Proverbs 5:7-16

English Standard Version

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

¹⁵ Drink ^(G)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your ^(H)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(I)in the streets?