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

My son, listen to my wisdom. Turn your 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.

So you may know what is good thinking, and your lips may keep much learning.

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 a strange woman are as sweet as honey. Her talk is as smooth as oil.

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

But in the end she is as bitter tasting as wormwood, and as sharp as a sword that cuts both ways.

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 of hell.

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

She does not think about the path of life. Her ways go this way and that, and she does not know it.

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

Now then, my sons, listen to me. Do not turn away 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,

Keep far away from her. Do not go near the door of her house.

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

If you do, you would give your strength to others, and your years to those without loving-kindness.

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

Strangers would be filled with your strength, and the fruits of your work would go to a strange house.

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

You would cry inside yourself when your end comes, when your flesh and body are wasted away.

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

You would say, “How I have hated teaching! My heart hated strong words!

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

I have not listened to the voice of my teachers. I have not turned my ear to those who would teach me.

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

Now I have a bad name in the meeting place of the people.”

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

Drink water from your own pool, flowing water from your own well.

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

Should the waters from your well flow away, rivers of water in the streets?

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

Let them be yours alone, and not for strangers with you.

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

Let your well be honored, and be happy with the wife you married when you were young.

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.

Let her be like a loving, female deer. Let her breasts please you at all times. Be filled with great joy always because of her love.

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

My son, why should you be carried away with a sinful woman and fall into the arms of a strange woman?

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 a man are seen by the eyes of the Lord, and He watches 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 sins will trap the sinful. He will be held with the ropes 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 will die for want of teaching, and will go the wrong way because of the greatness of his foolish ways.