Proverbs 5:1-14

New American Standard Bible

Pitfalls of Immorality

5 My son, ^(A)pay attention to my wisdom,
^(B)Incline your ear to my understanding,
²So that you may ^(C)maintain discretion
And your ^(D)lips may comply with knowledge.
³For the lips of an ^[a]^(E)adulteress ^(F)drip honey,
And her ^[b]speech is ^(G)smoother than oil;
⁴But in the end she is ^(H)bitter as wormwood,
^(I)Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet ^(J)go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
⁶^[c]She does not ponder the ^(K)path of life;
Her ways are ^(L)unstable, she ^(M)does not know it.

⁷^(N)Now then, my sons, listen to me
And ^(O)do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁸^(P)Keep your way far from her,
And do not go near the ^(Q)door of her house,
⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength,
And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;
¹¹And you will groan ^[d]in ^[e]the end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;
¹²And you say, “How I ^(R)hated instruction!
And my heart ^(S)disdainfully rejected rebuke!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my ^(T)teachers,
Nor incline my ear to my instructors!
¹⁴I was almost in total ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”