Proverbs 5-6

Proverbs 5

¹My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:

²So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.

³For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

⁴But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;

⁵Her feet go down to death, and her steps to the underworld;

⁶She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.

⁷Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.

⁸Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;

⁹For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:

¹⁰And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;

¹¹And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;

¹²And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;

¹³I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!

¹⁴I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.

¹⁵Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.

¹⁶Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.

¹⁷Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.

¹⁸Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.

¹⁹As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.

²⁰Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?

²¹For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

²²The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.

²³He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.

Proverbs 6

¹My son, if you have made yourself responsible for your neighbour, or given your word for another,

²You are taken as in a net by the words of your mouth, the sayings of your lips have overcome you.

³Do this, my son, and make yourself free, because you have come into the power of your neighbour; go without waiting, and make a strong request to your neighbour.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, or rest to them;

⁵Make yourself free, like the roe from the hand of the archer, and the bird from him who puts a net for her.

⁶Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise:

⁷Having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.

⁹How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:

¹¹Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man

¹²A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;

¹³Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers;

¹⁴His mind is ever designing evil: he lets loose violent acts.

¹⁵For this cause his downfall will be sudden; quickly he will be broken, and there will be no help for him.

¹⁶Six things are hated by the Lord; seven things are disgusting to him:

¹⁷Eyes of pride, a false tongue, hands which take life without cause;

¹⁸A heart full of evil designs, feet which are quick in running after sin;

¹⁹A false witness, breathing out untrue words, and one who lets loose violent acts among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep the rule of your father, and have in memory the teaching of your mother:

²¹Keep them ever folded in your heart, and have them hanging round your neck.

²²In your walking, it will be your guide; when you are sleeping, it will keep watch over you; when you are awake, it will have talk with you.

²³For the rule is a light, and the teaching a shining light; and the guiding words of training are the way of life.

²⁴They will keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman.

²⁵Let not your heart's desire go after her fair body; let not her eyes take you prisoner.

²⁶For a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.

²⁷May a man take fire to his breast without burning his clothing?

²⁸Or may one go on lighted coals, and his feet not be burned?

²⁹So it is with him who goes in to his neighbour's wife; he who has anything to do with her will not go free from punishment.

³⁰Men do not have a low opinion of a thief who takes food when he is in need of it:

³¹But if he is taken in the act he will have to give back seven times as much, giving up all his property which is in his house.

³²He who takes another man's wife is without all sense: he who does it is the cause of destruction to his soul.

³³Wounds will be his and loss of honour, and his shame may not be washed away.

³⁴For bitter is the wrath of an angry husband; in the day of punishment he will have no mercy.

³⁵He will not take any payment; and he will not make peace with you though your money offerings are increased.