1 M y son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,

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

2 T o observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.

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 honey, And smoother than oil her mouth,

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

4 A nd her latter end bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword mouths.

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

5 H er feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.

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

6 T he path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not.

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

7 A nd now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.

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

8 K eep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening 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 to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,

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

10 L est strangers be filled thy power, And thy labours 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 hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,

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

12 A nd hast said, `How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,

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

13 A nd I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.

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

14 A s a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.

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

15 D rink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones 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 scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.

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

17 L et them be to thee for thyself, And not to 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 because of the wife of thy youth,

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

19 A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.

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 dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?

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

21 F or over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.

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 do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.

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

23 H e dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!

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