1 M y son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

My son, be attentive to my Wisdom, and incline your ear to my understanding,

2 T hat thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

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

3 F or the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

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

4 B ut her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

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

5 H er feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

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

6 L est thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

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

7 H ear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

Now therefore, my sons, listen to 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:

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

9 L est thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy,

10 L est strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

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

11 A nd thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed,

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

And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

13 A nd have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

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

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

my sin involved almost all evil of the congregation and the community.

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

Drink waters out of your own cistern, and fresh running waters out of your own well.

16 L et thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

Should your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets?

17 L et them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

let your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you.

18 L et thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 L et her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

Let 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.

20 A nd why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

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

21 F or the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.

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

22 H is own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

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

23 H e shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

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