The warning
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honour to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, How I hated discipline. How my heart spurned correction. I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God's people.
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight,
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
lest you lose your honour to others and your dignity to one who is cruel,
Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another.
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
You will say, How I hated discipline. How my heart spurned correction.
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God's people.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Drink from your own well
Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.