Proverbs 4-5

English Standard Version

A Father's Wise Instruction

4 ^(A)Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may ^(B)gain^[a] insight,
²for I give you good ^(C)precepts;
    do not forsake my teaching.
³When I was a son with my father,
    ^(D)tender, ^(E)the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴he ^(F)taught me and said to me,
^(G)“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    ^(H)keep my commandments, and live.
⁵^(I)Get wisdom; get ^(J)insight;
    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    ^(K)love her, and she will guard you.
⁷^(L)The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
    and whatever you get, get ^(M)insight.
⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
    she will ^(N)honor you ^(O)if you embrace her.
⁹She will place on your head ^(P)a graceful garland;
    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰^(Q)Hear, ^(R)my son, and accept my words,
    that ^(S)the years of your life may be many.
¹¹I have ^(T)taught you the way of wisdom;
    I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
¹²When you walk, ^(U)your step will not be hampered,
    and ^(V)if you run, you will not stumble.
¹³^(W)Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
    guard her, for she is your ^(X)life.
¹⁴^(Y)Do not enter the path of the wicked,
    and do not walk in the way of the evil.
¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it;
    turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶For they ^(Z)cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness
    ^(AA)and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸But ^(AB)the path of the righteous is like ^(AC)the light of dawn,
    which shines ^(AD)brighter and brighter until ^(AE)full day.
¹⁹^(AF)The way of the wicked is like deep ^(AG)darkness;
    they do not know over what they ^(AH)stumble.

²⁰^(AI)My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹^(AJ)Let them not escape from your sight;
    ^(AK)keep them within your heart.
²²For they are ^(AL)life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their^[b] flesh.
²³Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for ^(AM)from it flow ^(AN)the springs of life.
²⁴Put away from you ^(AO)crooked speech,
    and put ^(AP)devious talk far from you.
²⁵^(AQ)Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
²⁶^(AR)Ponder^[c] the path of your feet;
    ^(AS)then all your ways will be sure.
²⁷^(AT)Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.

Warning Against Adultery

5 ^(AU)My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
    ^(AV)incline your ear to my understanding,
²that you may keep ^(AW)discretion,
    and your lips may ^(AX)guard knowledge.
³For the lips of ^(AY)a forbidden^[d] woman drip honey,
    and her speech^[e] is ^(AZ)smoother than oil,
⁴but in the end she is ^(BA)bitter as ^(BB)wormwood,
    ^(BC)sharp as ^(BD)a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet ^(BE)go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to^[f] Sheol;
⁶she ^(BF)does not ponder the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And ^(BG)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Keep your way far from her,
    and do not go near the door of her house,
⁹lest you give your honor to others
    and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
    and your ^(BH)labors go to the house of a foreigner,
¹¹and at the end of your life you ^(BI)groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹²and you say, ^(BJ)“How I hated discipline,
    and my heart ^(BK)despised reproof!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴^(BL)I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink ^(BM)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your ^(BN)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(BO)in the streets?
¹⁷^(BP)Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your ^(BQ)fountain be blessed,
    and ^(BR)rejoice in ^(BS)the wife of your youth,
¹⁹    a lovely ^(BT)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts ^(BU)fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated^[g] always in her love.
²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with ^(BV)a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of ^(BW)an adulteress?^[h]
²¹For ^(BX)a man's ways are ^(BY)before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ^(BZ)ponders^[i] all his paths.
²²The ^(CA)iniquities of the wicked ^(CB)ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
²³^(CC)He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is ^(CD)led astray.