Proverbs 5
Christian Standard Bible
Avoid Seduction
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen closely[a] to my understanding(A)
2 so that you may maintain discretion
and your lips safeguard knowledge.(B)
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are[b] smoother than oil,
4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood(C)
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.(D)
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.(E)
6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, sons, listen to me,
and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.(F)
8 Keep your way far from her.
Don’t go near the door of her house.(G)
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others
and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources,
and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament
when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline,
and how my heart despised correction.(H)
13 I didn’t obey my teachers
or listen closely[c] to my instructors.
14 I am on the verge of complete ruin
before the entire community.”
Enjoy Marriage
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
water flowing from your own well.(I)
16 Should your springs flow in the streets,
streams in the public squares?(J)
17 They should be for you alone
and not for you to share with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.(K)
19 A loving deer, a graceful doe[d]—
let her breasts always satisfy you;(L)
be lost in her love forever.
20 Why, my son, would you lose yourself
with a forbidden woman
or embrace a wayward woman?(M)
21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes,(N)
and he considers all his paths.(O)
22 A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him;(P)
he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.(Q)
23 He will die because there is no discipline,(R)
and be lost because of his great stupidity.
Proverbs 5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Warning against Impurity and Infidelity
5 My child, be attentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,(A)
2 so that you may hold on to prudence,
and your lips may guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of a loose woman[a] drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,(B)
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.(C)
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to Sheol.
6 She does not keep straight to the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And now, my child,[b] listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.(D)
8 Keep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,(E)
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 and strangers take their fill of your wealth,
and your labors go to the house of an alien,
11 and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, “Oh, how I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!(F)
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 Now I am at the point of utter ruin
in the public assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?(G)
17 Let them be for yourself alone
and not for sharing with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,(H)
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
May her breasts satisfy you at all times;
may you be intoxicated always by her love.(I)
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[c](J)
21 For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord,
and he examines all their paths.(K)
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them,
and they are caught in the coils of their sin.(L)
23 They die for lack of discipline,
and because of their great folly they are lost.(M)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.