Proverbs 5:11-21

English Standard Version

¹¹and at the end of your life you ^(A)groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹²and you say, ^(B)“How I hated discipline,
    and my heart ^(C)despised reproof!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴^(D)I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink ^(E)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your ^(F)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(G)in the streets?
¹⁷^(H)Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your ^(I)fountain be blessed,
    and ^(J)rejoice in ^(K)the wife of your youth,
¹⁹    a lovely ^(L)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts ^(M)fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated^[a] always in her love.
²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with ^(N)a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of ^(O)an adulteress?^[b]
²¹For ^(P)a man's ways are ^(Q)before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ^(R)ponders^[c] all his paths.