1 M y son, be attentive to my Wisdom, and incline your ear to my understanding,

My son, attend unto my wisdom, incline thine ear to my understanding;

2 T hat you may exercise proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer.

that thou mayest keep reflection, and that thy lips may preserve knowledge.

3 F or the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

For the lips of the strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

4 B ut in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword.

but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 H er feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol.

6 S he loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them.

Lest she should ponder the path of life, her ways wander, she knoweth not.

7 N ow therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

And now, children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 L et your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house,

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9 L est you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy,

lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;

10 L est strangers take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien —

lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and the fruits of thy toil into the house of a stranger;

11 A nd you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed,

and thou mourn in thine end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed;

12 A nd you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

and thou say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!

13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me.

and I have not hearkened unto the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to those that instructed me;

14 m y sin involved almost all evil of the congregation and the community.

I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15 D rink waters out of your own cistern, and fresh running waters out of your own well.

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16 S hould your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets?

Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.

17 l et your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you.

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

18 L et your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.

19 L et her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe —let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love.

As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: be thou ravished continually with her love.

20 W hy should you, my son, be infatuated with a loose woman, embrace the bosom of an outsider, and go astray?

And why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 F or the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord, and He carefully weighs all man’s goings.

For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he pondereth all his paths.

22 H is own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

23 H e will die for lack of discipline and instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray and be lost.

He shall die for want of discipline; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.