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Proverbs 5
Common English Bible
Proverbs 5
Common English Bible
Avoid the mysterious woman
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Bend your ear to what I know,
2 so you might remain discreet,
and your lips might guard knowledge.
3 The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey,
and her tongue is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead to the grave.[a]
6 She doesn’t stay on the way of life.
Her paths wander, but she doesn’t know it.
7 Now sons, listen to me,
and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay on a path that is far from her;
don’t approach the entrance to her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give your strength to others,
your years to a cruel person.
10 Otherwise, strangers will sap your strength,
and your hard work will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 You will groan at the end
when your body and flesh are exhausted,
12 and you say, “How I hated instruction!
How my heart despised correction!
13 I didn’t listen to the voice of my instructor.
I didn’t obey my teacher.
14 I’m on the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled community.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
gushing water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains flood outside,
streams of water in the public squares?
17 They are yours alone,
not for you as well as strangers.
18 May your spring be blessed.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts intoxicate you all the time;
always be drunk on her love.
20 Why, my son, should you lose your senses with a mysterious woman
and embrace the breasts of a foreign female?
21 The Lord’s eyes watch over every person’s path,
observing all their ways.
22 The wicked will be caught by their own evil acts,
grabbed by the ropes of their own sin.
23 Those without instruction will die,
misled by their own stupidity.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:5 Heb Sheol
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Warning Against Adultery
5 My son,(A) pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words(B) of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;(C)
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,(D)
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.(E)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.(F)
7 Now then, my sons, listen(G) to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,(H)
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.(I)
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!(J)
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble(K)
in the assembly of God’s people.”(L)
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(M) be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.(N)
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer(O)—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:9 Or years
Mishle 5
Orthodox Jewish Bible
Mishle 5
Orthodox Jewish Bible
5 Beni (my son), attend unto my chochmah, and bow thine ozen to my tevunah (understanding);
2 That thou mayest regard mezimah (discretion), and that thy sfatayim (lips) may keep da’as (knowledge).
3 For the sfatayim (lips) of a zarah (strange woman) drip as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than shemen (olive oil);
4 But her end is marah (bitter) as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged cherev.
5 Her raglayim go down to mavet; her steps lead to Sheol.
6 Lest thou shouldest compare [hers] to the orach chayyim, her ma’agalot (paths) are crooked, that thou canst not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye banim, and turn not from the words of my peh (mouth).
8 Remove thy derech far from her, and come not near the petach (doorway) of her bais;
9 Lest thou give thine hod (strength) unto others, and thy shanim unto the cruel one;
10 Lest zarim (strangers) be filled with thy koach; and thy toilings be in the bais nochri;
11 And thou mourn at the acharit (last, latter end, future), when thy basar and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated musar, and my lev spurned tokhakhat (reproof);
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my morim (teachers), nor inclined mine ear to the ones who were my melamed!
14 I was at the brink of all rah (evil, ruin) in the midst of the kahal (congregation) and edah (assembly).
15 Drink mayim out of thine own bor (cistern), and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Should thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and channels of mayim in the rekhovot (town squares)?
17 Let them be only thine own, and never zarim (strangers) with thee.
18 Let thy makor (fountain) be blessed; and rejoice with the isha of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou enraptured tamid (ever) with ahavat (love of) her.
20 And why wilt thou, beni (my son), be intoxicated with a zarah (strange woman), and embrace the kheyk (bosom) of a nochriyah (foreign [heathen] woman)?
21 For the drakhim ish are before the eyes of Hashem, and He pondereth all his ma’agalot (paths).
22 His own avonot shall entrap the rashah himself, and he shall be held fast by the cords of his chattat.
23 He shall die without musar; and in the greatness of his folly he shall be led astray.
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)
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