1 My son, listen to my wisdom; Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 So as to watch over discretion, And your lips guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, And her mouth 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 lay hold of the grave.
6 She does not consider the path of life; Her ways are unstable – you do not know it.
7 So now, listen to me, you children, And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her, And do not come near the door of her house,
9 Lest you give your splendour to others, And your years to one who is cruel;
10 Lest strangers be filled with your strength, And your labours go to the house of a foreigner.
11 Then you shall howl in your latter end, When your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And shall say, “How I have hated discipline, And my heart has despised reproof!
13 “And I have not heeded the voice of my teachers, And I have not inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 “In a little while I was in all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, Rivers of water in the streets?
17 And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth –
19 A loving deer and a pleasant doe! Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. And be captivated by her love always.
20 For why should you, my son, Be captivated by a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of man Are before the eyes of יהוה, And He considers all his paths.
22 The wrong one is entrapped In his own crookednesses, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline, And in the greatness of his folly He goes astray.