Proverbs 5
New King James Version
The Peril of Adultery
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
[a]Lend your ear to my understanding,
2 That you may [b]preserve discretion,
And your lips (A)may keep knowledge.
3 (B)For the lips of [c]an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is (C)smoother than oil;
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
(D)Her steps lay hold of [d]hell.
6 Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them.
7 Therefore hear me now, my children,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
9 Lest you give your [e]honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest aliens be filled with your [f]wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
11 And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
[g]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 (E)the wife of your youth.
19 (F)As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be [h]enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by (G)an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
21 (H)For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He [i]ponders all his paths.
22 (I)His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 (J)He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:1 Lit. Bow
- Proverbs 5:2 appreciate good judgment
- Proverbs 5:3 Lit. a strange
- Proverbs 5:5 Or Sheol
- Proverbs 5:9 vigor
- Proverbs 5:10 Lit. strength
- Proverbs 5:16 Channels
- Proverbs 5:19 Lit. intoxicated
- Proverbs 5:21 observes, lit. weighs
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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