• Pitfalls of Immorality

  • 1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
  • 2 So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.
  • 3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And her speech is smoother than oil;
  • 4 But in the end she 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, she does not know it.
  • 7 Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
  • 8 Keep your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,
  • 9 Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;
  • 10 And strangers will be filled with your strength, And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;
  • 11 And you will groan in the end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;
  • 12 And you say, “How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!
  • 13 “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, Nor incline my ear to my instructors!
  • 14 “I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
  • 15 Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.
  • 16 Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?
  • 17 Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you.
  • 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.
  • 19 Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.
  • 20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?
  • 21 For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the Lord, And He observes all his paths.
  • 22 His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked, And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.
  • 23 He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.