Proverbs 5

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 My son, to my wisdom be attentive, to my knowledge incline your ear,	1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence,
2 That discretion may watch over you, and understanding may guard you.	2 so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman.
3 The lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;	3 For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword.	4 But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death, to the nether world her steps attain;	5 Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell.
6 Lest you see before you the road to life, her paths will ramble, you know not where.	6 They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable.
7 So now, O children, listen to me, go not astray from the words of my mouth.	7 Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her, approach not the door of her house,	8 Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house.
9 Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one;	9 Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel.
10 Lest strangers have their fill of your wealth, your hard-won earnings go to an alien's house;	10 Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house,
11 And you groan in the end, when your flesh and your body are consumed;	11 and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say:
12 And you say, "Oh, why did I hate instruction, and my heart spurn reproof!	12 “Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction?
13 Why did I not listen to the voice of my teachers, nor to my instructors incline my ear!	13 And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers?
14 I have all but come to utter ruin, condemned by the public assembly!"	14 I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.	15 Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well.
16 How may your water sources be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?	16 Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets.
17 Let your fountain be yours alone, not one shared with strangers;	17 Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you.
18 And have joy of the wife of your youth,	18 Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth:
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.	19 a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
20 Why then, my son, should you go astray for another's wife and accept the embraces of an adulteress?	20 Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another?
21 For each man's ways are plain to the LORD'S sight; all their paths he surveys;	21 The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps.
22 By his own iniquities the wicked man will be caught, in the meshes of his own sin he will be held fast;	22 His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins.
23 He will die from lack of discipline, through the greatness of his folly he will be lost.	23 He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.