Proverbs 5:3-14

Living Bible

³For the lips of a prostitute^[a] are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock-in-trade. ⁴But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left to you,^[b] sharp as a double-edged sword. ⁵She leads you down to death and hell. ⁶For she does not know the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t even realize where it leads.

⁷Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I’m about to say: ⁸Run from her! Don’t go near her house, ⁹lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless;^[c] ¹⁰lest strangers obtain your wealth, and you become a slave of foreigners. ¹¹Lest afterwards you groan in anguish and in shame when syphilis^[d] consumes your body, ¹²and you say, “Oh, if only I had listened! If only I had not demanded my own way! ¹³Oh, why wouldn’t I take advice? Why was I so stupid? ¹⁴For now I must face public disgrace.”

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Footnotes

Proverbs 5:3 of a prostitute, or “of another man’s wife.”
Proverbs 5:4 But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left you, literally, “But in the end she is bitter as wormwood.”
Proverbs 5:9 and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless. Perhaps the reference is to blackmail or to fear of vengeance from the wronged husband.
Proverbs 5:11 syphilis, literally, “disease.”