Proverbs 5

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:	1 My son, to my wisdom be attentive, to my knowledge incline your ear,
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.	2 That discretion may watch over you, and understanding may guard you.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:	3 The lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.	4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.	5 Her feet go down to death, to the nether world her steps attain;
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.	6 Lest you see before you the road to life, her paths will ramble, you know not where.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.	7 So now, O children, listen to me, go not astray from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:	8 Keep your way far from her, approach not the door of her house,
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:	9 Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one;
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;	10 Lest strangers have their fill of your wealth, your hard-won earnings go to an alien's house;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,	11 And you groan in the end, when your flesh and your body are consumed;
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;	12 And you say, "Oh, why did I hate instruction, and my heart spurn reproof!
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!	13 Why did I not listen to the voice of my teachers, nor to my instructors incline my ear!
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.	14 I have all but come to utter ruin, condemned by the public assembly!"
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.	15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.	16 How may your water sources be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.	17 Let your fountain be yours alone, not one shared with strangers;
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.	18 And have joy of the wife of your youth,
19 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.	19 your lovely hind, your graceful doe. Her love will invigorate you always, through her love you will flourish continually, (6:22) When you lie down she will watch over you, and when you wake, she will share your concerns; wherever you turn, she will guide you.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?	20 Why then, my son, should you go astray for another's wife and accept the embraces of an adulteress?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.	21 For each man's ways are plain to the LORD'S sight; all their paths he surveys;
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.	22 By his own iniquities the wicked man will be caught, in the meshes of his own sin he will be held fast;
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.	23 He will die from lack of discipline, through the greatness of his folly he will be lost.