Mishle 5
Orthodox Jewish Bible
5 Beni (my son), attend unto my chochmah, and bow thine ozen to my tevunah (understanding);
2 That thou mayest regard mezimah (discretion), and that thy sfatayim (lips) may keep da’as (knowledge).
3 For the sfatayim (lips) of a zarah (strange woman) drip as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than shemen (olive oil);
4 But her end is marah (bitter) as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged cherev.
5 Her raglayim go down to mavet; her steps lead to Sheol.
6 Lest thou shouldest compare [hers] to the orach chayyim, her ma’agalot (paths) are crooked, that thou canst not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye banim, and turn not from the words of my peh (mouth).
8 Remove thy derech far from her, and come not near the petach (doorway) of her bais;
9 Lest thou give thine hod (strength) unto others, and thy shanim unto the cruel one;
10 Lest zarim (strangers) be filled with thy koach; and thy toilings be in the bais nochri;
11 And thou mourn at the acharit (last, latter end, future), when thy basar and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated musar, and my lev spurned tokhakhat (reproof);
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my morim (teachers), nor inclined mine ear to the ones who were my melamed!
14 I was at the brink of all rah (evil, ruin) in the midst of the kahal (congregation) and edah (assembly).
15 Drink mayim out of thine own bor (cistern), and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Should thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and channels of mayim in the rekhovot (town squares)?
17 Let them be only thine own, and never zarim (strangers) with thee.
18 Let thy makor (fountain) be blessed; and rejoice with the isha of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou enraptured tamid (ever) with ahavat (love of) her.
20 And why wilt thou, beni (my son), be intoxicated with a zarah (strange woman), and embrace the kheyk (bosom) of a nochriyah (foreign [heathen] woman)?
21 For the drakhim ish are before the eyes of Hashem, and He pondereth all his ma’agalot (paths).
22 His own avonot shall entrap the rashah himself, and he shall be held fast by the cords of his chattat.
23 He shall die without musar; and in the greatness of his folly he shall be led astray.
Proverbs 5
Complete Jewish Bible
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding;
2 so that you will preserve discretion
and your lips keep watch over knowledge.
3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey,
her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps lead straight to Sh’ol;
6 she doesn’t walk the level path of life —
her course wanders all over, but she doesn’t know it.
7 So now, children, listen to me;
don’t turn away from what I am saying:
8 distance your way from her,
stay far from the door of her house;
9 so that you won’t give your vigor to others
and your years to someone who is cruel,
10 so strangers won’t be filled with your strength
and what you worked for go to a foreign house.
11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk,
at the end of your life, you would moan,
12 “How I hated discipline!
My whole being despised reproof,
13 I ignored what my teachers said,
I didn’t listen to my instructors.
14 I took part in almost every kind of evil,
and the whole community knew it.”
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.
16 Let what your springs produce be dispersed outside,
streams of water flowing in the streets;
17 but let them be for you alone
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain, the wife of your youth,
be blessed; find joy in her —
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn;
let her breasts satisfy you at all times,
always be infatuated with her love.
20 My son, why be infatuated with an unknown woman?
Why embrace the body of a loose woman?
21 For Adonai is watching a man’s ways;
he surveys all his paths.
22 A wicked person’s own crimes will trap him,
he will be held fast by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die from lack of discipline;
the magnitude of his folly will make him totter and fall.
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Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.