¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain^(A) be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.^(B)
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer^(C)—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.

¹⁶ A kindhearted woman gains honor,^(A)
    but ruthless men gain only wealth.

²² Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
    is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.

¹⁸ “There are three things that are too amazing for me,
    four that I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰ “This is the way of an adulterous woman:
    She eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’^(A)