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,
²That 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;
⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death,
^(D)Her steps lay hold of ^[d]hell.
⁶Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them.

⁷Therefore hear me now, my children,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
⁹Lest you give your ^[e]honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
¹⁰Lest aliens be filled with your ^[f]wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
¹¹And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
¹²And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
¹³I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
¹⁴I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
^[g]Streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let 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.
²⁰For 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

John 5:31-47

New King James Version

The Fourfold Witness

³¹^(A)“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not ^[a]true. ³²^(B)There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. ³³You have sent to John, ^(C)and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. ³⁵He was the burning and ^(D)shining lamp, and ^(E)you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. ³⁶But ^(F)I have a greater witness than John’s; for ^(G)the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very ^(H)works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. ³⁷And the Father Himself, who sent Me, ^(I)has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, ^(J)nor seen His form. ³⁸But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. ³⁹^(K)You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and ^(L)these are they which testify of Me. ⁴⁰^(M)But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

⁴¹^(N)“I do not receive honor from men. ⁴²But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. ⁴³I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. ⁴⁴^(O)How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek ^(P)the honor that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; ^(Q)there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. ⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; ^(R)for he wrote about Me. ⁴⁷But if you ^(S)do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”