Proverbs 5:1--7:27

Admonition to Avoid Seduction to Evil

5:1 My child, be attentive to my wisdom,

pay close attention to my understanding,

5:2 in order to safeguard discretion,

and that your lips may guard knowledge.

5:3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,

and her seductive words are smoother than olive oil,

5:4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave.

5:6 Lest she should make level the path leading to life,

her paths are unstable but she does not know it.

5:7 So now, children, listen to me;

do not turn aside from the words I speak.

5:8 Keep yourself far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

5:9 lest you give your vigor to others

and your years to a cruel person,

5:10 lest strangers devour your strength,

and your labor benefit another man’s house.

5:11 And at the end of your life you will groan

when your flesh and your body are wasted away.

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For I did not obey my teachers

and I did not heed my instructors.

5:14 I almost came to complete ruin

in the midst of the whole congregation!”

5:15 Drink water from your own cistern

and running water from your own well.

5:16 Should your springs be dispersed outside,

your streams of water in the wide plazas?

5:17 Let them be for yourself alone,

and not for strangers with you.

5:18 May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in your young wife –

5:19 a loving doe, a graceful deer;

may her breasts satisfy you at all times,

may you be captivated by her love always.

5:20 But why should you be captivated, my son, by an adulteress,

and embrace the bosom of a different woman?

5:21 For the ways of a person are in front of the Lord’s eyes,

and the Lord weighs all that person’s paths.

5:22 The wicked will be captured by his own iniquities,

and he will be held by the cords of his own sin.

5:23 He will die because there was no discipline;

because of the greatness of his folly he will reel.

Admonitions and Warnings against Dangerous and Destructive Acts

6:1 My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor,

and have become a guarantor for a stranger,

6:2 if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered,

and have been caught by the words you have spoken,

6:3 then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself,

because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power:

go, humble yourself,

and appeal firmly to your neighbor.

6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes

or slumber to your eyelids.

6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare,

and like a bird from the trap of the fowler.

6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;

observe its ways and be wise!

6:7 It has no commander,

overseer, or ruler,

6:8 yet it prepares its food in the summer;

it gathers at the harvest what it will eat.

6:9 How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?

When will you rise from your sleep?

6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to relax,

6:11 and your poverty will come like a robber,

and your need like an armed man.

6:12 A worthless and wicked person

walks around saying perverse things;

6:13 he winks with his eyes,

signals with his feet,

and points with his fingers;

6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts in his heart,

he spreads contention at all times.

6:15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;

in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

6:16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

even seven things that are an abomination to him:

6:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift to run to evil,

6:19 a false witness who pours out lies,

and a person who spreads discord among family members.

6:20 My child, guard the commands of your father

and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

6:21 Bind them on your heart continually;

fasten them around your neck.

6:22 When you walk about, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

6:23 For the commandments are like a lamp,

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life,

6:24 by keeping you from the evil woman,

from the smooth tongue of the loose woman.

6:25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty,

and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes;

6:26 for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread,

but the wife of another man preys on your precious life.

6:27 Can a man hold fire against his chest

without burning his clothes?

6:28 Can a man walk on hot coals

without scorching his feet?

6:29 So it is with the one who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;

no one who touches her will escape punishment.

6:30 People do not despise a thief when he steals

to fulfill his need when he is hungry.

6:31 Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over,

he might even have to give all the wealth of his house.

6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom,

whoever does it destroys his own life.

6:33 He will be beaten and despised,

and his reproach will not be wiped away;

6:34 for jealousy kindles a husband’s rage,

and he will not show mercy when he takes revenge.

6:35 He will not consider any compensation;

he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation.

Admonition to Avoid the Wiles of the Adulteress

7:1 My child, keep my words

and treasure up my commands in your own keeping.

7:2 Keep my commands so that you may live,

and obey my instruction as your most prized possession.

7:3 Bind them on your forearm;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call understanding a close relative,

7:5 so that they may keep you from the adulterous woman,

from the loose woman who flatters you with her words.

7:6 For at the window of my house

through my window lattice I looked out

7:7 and I saw among the naive –

I discerned among the youths –

a young man who lacked wisdom.

7:8 He was passing by the street near her corner,

making his way along the road to her house

7:9 in the twilight, the evening,

in the dark of the night.

7:10 Suddenly a woman came out to meet him!

She was dressed like a prostitute and with secret intent.

7:11 (She is loud and rebellious,

she does not remain at home –

7:12 at one time outside, at another in the wide plazas,

and by every corner she lies in wait.)

7:13 So she grabbed him and kissed him,

and with a bold expression she said to him,

7:14 “I have fresh meat at home;

today I have fulfilled my vows!

7:15 That is why I came out to meet you,

to look for you, and I found you!

7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings,

with richly colored fabric from Egypt.

7:17 I have perfumed my bed

with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

7:18 Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning,

let’s delight ourselves with sexual intercourse.

7:19 For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a journey of some distance.

7:20 He has taken a bag of money with him;

he will not return until the end of the month.”

7:21 She persuaded him with persuasive words;

with her smooth talk she compelled him.

7:22 Suddenly he went after her

like an ox that goes to the slaughter,

like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare

7:23 till an arrow pierces his liver –

like a bird hurrying into a trap,

and he does not know that it will cost him his life.

7:24 So now, sons, listen to me,

and pay attention to the words I speak.

7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways –

do not wander into her pathways;

7:26 for she has brought down many fatally wounded,

and all those she has slain are many.

7:27 Her house is the way to the grave,

going down to the chambers of death.