Proverbs 5:5-23

English Standard Version

⁷ And ^(C)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸ Keep your way far from her,
    and do not go near the door of her house,
⁹ lest you give your honor to others
    and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰ lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
    and your ^(D)labors go to the house of a foreigner,
¹¹ and at the end of your life you ^(E)groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹² and you say, ^(F)“How I hated discipline,
    and my heart ^(G)despised reproof!
¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
^14 (H)I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵ Drink ^(I)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your ^(J)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(K)in the streets?
^17 (L)Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸ Let your ^(M)fountain be blessed,
    and ^(N)rejoice in ^(O)the wife of your youth,
¹⁹     a lovely ^(P)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts ^(Q)fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated^[b] always in her love.
²⁰ Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with ^(R)a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of ^(S)an adulteress?^[c]
21 For ^(T)a man's ways are ^(U)before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ^(V)ponders^[d] all his paths.
²² The ^(W)iniquities of the wicked ^(X)ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
^23 (Y)He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is ^(Z)led astray.