Proverbs 5

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding;	1 My son, to my wisdom be attentive, to my knowledge incline your ear,
2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.	2 That discretion may watch over you, and understanding may guard you.
3 For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;	3 The lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged 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 follow the path to Sheol;	5 Her feet go down to death, to the nether world her steps attain;
6 she does not take heed to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.	6 Lest you see before you the road to life, her paths will ramble, you know not where.
7 And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.	7 So now, O children, listen to me, go not astray from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house;	8 Keep your way far from her, approach not the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless;	9 Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one;
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of an alien;	10 Lest strangers have their fill of your wealth, your hard-won earnings go to an alien's house;
11 and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,	11 And you groan in the end, when your flesh and your body are consumed;
12 and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!	12 And you say, "Oh, why did I hate instruction, and my heart spurn reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.	13 Why did I not listen to the voice of my teachers, nor to my instructors incline my ear!
14 I was at the point of utter ruin in the assembled congregation."	14 I have all but come to utter ruin, condemned by the public assembly!"
15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.	15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?	16 How may your water sources be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.	17 Let your fountain be yours alone, not one shared with strangers;
18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,	18 And have joy of the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely hind, a graceful doe. Let her affection fill you at all times with delight, be infatuated 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 Why should you be infatuated, my son, with a loose woman and embrace the bosom of an adventuress?	20 Why then, my son, should you go astray for another's wife and accept the embraces of an adulteress?
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he watches all his paths.	21 For each man's ways are plain to the LORD'S sight; all their paths he surveys;
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is caught in the toils of his sin.	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 dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is lost.	23 He will die from lack of discipline, through the greatness of his folly he will be lost.