Proverbs 5 — parallel

5:1

My son, pay attention to my wisdom.

My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,

5:2

that you may maintain discretion,

that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

5:3

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey.

Though the lips drip honey is smoother than oil,

5:4

but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,

in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5:5

Her feet go down to death.

Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to .

5:6

She gives no thought to the way of life.

She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

5:7

Now therefore, my sons, listen to me.

So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.

5:8

Remove your way far from her.

Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,

5:9

lest you give your honour to others,

lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

5:10

lest strangers feast on your wealth,

lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

5:11

You will groan at your latter end,

At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

5:12

and say, “How I have hated instruction,

and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

5:13

I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers,

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.

5:14

I have come to the brink of utter ruin,

I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”

5:15

Drink water out of your own cistern,

Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

5:16

Should your springs overflow in the streets,

Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

5:17

Let them be for yourself alone,

Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.

5:18

Let your spring be blessed.

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

5:19

A loving doe and a graceful deer—

A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; by her love forever.

5:20

For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom ?

5:21

For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes.

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.

5:22

The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him.

The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.

5:23

He will die for lack of instruction.

He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.