1 M y son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding:

2 T hat thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3 F or the lips of a 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 sword.

5 H er feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol;

6 S o that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.

7 N ow therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 R emove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house;

9 L est thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel;

10 L est strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors be in the house of an alien,

11 A nd thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12 A nd say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof;

13 N either have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

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

15 D rink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well.

16 S hould thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets?

17 L et them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee.

18 L et thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.

19 A s a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.

20 F or why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

21 F or the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths.

22 H is own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

23 H e shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.