Proverbs 5:15-21
English Standard Version
15 Drink (A)water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your (B)springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water (C)in the streets?
17 (D)Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your (E)fountain be blessed,
and (F)rejoice in (G)the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely (H)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts (I)fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated[a] always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with (J)a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of (K)an adulteress?[b]
21 For (L)a man's ways are (M)before the eyes of the Lord,
and he (N)ponders[c] all his paths.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:19 Hebrew be led astray; also verse 20
- Proverbs 5:20 Hebrew a foreign woman
- Proverbs 5:21 Or makes level
Proverbs 5:15-21
New King James Version
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
[a]Streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with (A)the wife of your youth.
19 (B)As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be [b]enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by (C)an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:16 Channels
- Proverbs 5:19 Lit. intoxicated
- Proverbs 5:21 observes, lit. weighs
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
