Proverbs 4-5

New American Standard Bible

A Father’s Instruction

4 Listen, my sons, to the ^(A)instruction of a father,
And ^(B)pay attention so that you may ^[a]gain understanding,
²For I give you good ^(C)teaching;
^(D)Do not abandon my ^[b]instruction.
³When I was a son to my father,
^(E)Tender and ^(F)the only son in the sight of my mother,
⁴He ^(G)taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart ^(H)take hold of my words;
^(I)Keep my commandments and live;
⁵^(J)Acquire wisdom! ^(K)Acquire understanding!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶Do not abandon her, and she will guard you;
^(L)Love her, and she will watch over you.
⁷^(M)The ^[c]beginning of wisdom is: ^(N)Acquire wisdom;
And with all your possessions, acquire understanding.
⁸^(O)Prize her, and she will exalt you;
She will honor you if you embrace her.
⁹She will place ^(P)on your head a garland of grace;
She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

¹⁰Listen, my son, and ^(Q)accept my sayings,
And the ^(R)years of your life will be many.
¹¹I have ^(S)instructed you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in upright paths.
¹²When you walk, your ^(T)steps will not be hampered;
And if you run, you ^(U)will not stumble.
¹³^(V)Take hold of instruction; do not let go.
Guard her, for she is your ^(W)life.
¹⁴^(X)Do not enter the path of the wicked
And do not proceed in the way of evil people.
¹⁵Avoid it, do not pass by it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶For they ^(Y)cannot sleep unless they do evil;
And ^[d]they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.
¹⁷For they ^(Z)eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸But the ^(AA)path of the righteous is like the ^(AB)light of dawn
That ^(AC)shines brighter and brighter until the ^(AD)full day.
¹⁹The ^(AE)way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know over what they ^[e]^(AF)stumble.

²⁰My son, ^(AG)pay attention to my words;
^(AH)Incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹^(AI)They are not to escape from your sight;
^(AJ)Keep them in the midst of your heart.
²²For they are ^(AK)life to those who find them,
And ^(AL)healing to all ^[f]their body.
²³Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For ^(AM)from it flow the springs of life.
²⁴Rid yourself of a ^(AN)deceitful mouth
And ^(AO)keep devious ^[g]speech far from you.
²⁵Let your eyes look directly ahead
And let your ^[h]gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
²⁶^(AP)^[i]Watch the path of your feet,
And all your ^(AQ)ways will be established.
²⁷^(AR)Do not turn to the right or to the left;
^(AS)Turn your foot from evil.

Pitfalls of Immorality

5 My son, ^(AT)pay attention to my wisdom,
^(AU)Incline your ear to my understanding,
²So that you may ^(AV)maintain discretion
And your ^(AW)lips may comply with knowledge.
³For the lips of an ^[j]^(AX)adulteress ^(AY)drip honey,
And her ^[k]speech is ^(AZ)smoother than oil;
⁴But in the end she is ^(BA)bitter as wormwood,
^(BB)Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet ^(BC)go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
⁶^[l]She does not ponder the ^(BD)path of life;
Her ways are ^(BE)unstable, she ^(BF)does not know it.

⁷^(BG)Now then, my sons, listen to me
And ^(BH)do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁸^(BI)Keep your way far from her,
And do not go near the ^(BJ)door of her house,
⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength,
And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;
¹¹And you will groan ^[m]in ^[n]the end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;
¹²And you say, “How I ^(BK)hated instruction!
And my heart ^(BL)disdainfully rejected rebuke!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my ^(BM)teachers,
Nor incline my ear to my instructors!
¹⁴I was almost in total ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
And ^[o]fresh water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your ^(BN)springs overflow into the street,
Streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷Let them be yours alone,
And not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your ^(BO)fountain be blessed,
And ^(BP)rejoice in the ^(BQ)wife of your youth.
¹⁹Like a loving ^(BR)doe and a graceful mountain goat,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be ^[p]exhilarated always with her love.
²⁰For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an ^[q]^(BS)adulteress,
And embrace the breasts of a ^(BT)foreigner?
²¹For the ^(BU)ways of everyone are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He ^(BV)observes all his paths.
²²His ^(BW)own wrongdoings will trap the wicked,
And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.
²³He will ^(BX)die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.