Proverbs 5
Modern English Version
Warning Against Adultery
5 My son, attend to my wisdom,
and bow your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may regard discretion,
and that your lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip as a honeycomb,
and her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps take hold of Sheol.
6 She does not ponder the path of life;
her ways are unstable, and she does not know it.
7 Hear me now therefore, O children,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove 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 cruel;
10 lest strangers be filled with your wealth,
and your labors go to the house of a stranger;
11 and you mourn at the last,
when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproof!
13 And I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 I was almost in utter ruin
in the midst of the congregation and assembly.”
15 Drink waters out of your own cistern,
and running waters out of your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only your own,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and pleasant doe;
let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
and always be enraptured with her love.
20 Why should you, my son, be intoxicated by an immoral woman,
and embrace the bosom of a seductress?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
and He ponders all his goings.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked himself,
and he is snared in the cords of his sins.
23 He will die for lack of instruction,
and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.
Proverbs 5
The Message
Nothing but Sin and Bones
5 1-2 Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom;
listen very closely to the way I see it.
Then you’ll acquire a taste for good sense;
what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.
3-6 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet,
her soft words are oh so smooth.
But it won’t be long before she’s gravel in your mouth,
a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart.
She’s dancing down the perfumed path to Death;
she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her.
She hasn’t a clue about Real Life,
about who she is or where she’s going.
7-14 So, my friend, listen closely;
don’t treat my words casually.
Keep your distance from such a woman;
absolutely stay out of her neighborhood.
You don’t want to squander your wonderful life,
to waste your precious life among the hardhearted.
Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you?
Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you?
You don’t want to end your life full of regrets,
nothing but sin and bones,
Saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what they told me?
Why did I reject a disciplined life?
Why didn’t I listen to my mentors,
or take my teachers seriously?
My life is ruined!
I haven’t one blessed thing to show for my life!”
Never Take Love for Granted
15-16 Do you know the saying, “Drink from your own rain barrel,
draw water from your own spring-fed well”?
It’s true. Otherwise, you may one day come home
and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.
17-20 Your spring water is for you and you only,
not to be passed around among strangers.
Bless your fresh-flowing fountain!
Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—
don’t ever quit taking delight in her body.
Never take her love for granted!
Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a prostitute?
for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?
21-23 Mark well that God doesn’t miss a move you make;
he’s aware of every step you take.
The shadow of your sin will overtake you;
you’ll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark.
Death is the reward of an undisciplined life;
your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson