Proverbs 5
New King James Version

The Peril of Adultery

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
^[a]Lend your ear to my understanding,
²That you may^[b]preserve discretion,
And your lips^(A)may keep knowledge.
³^(B)For the lips of^[c]an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouthis^(C)smoother than oil;
⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death,
^(D)Her steps lay hold of^[d]hell.
⁶Lest you ponderherpath of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not knowthem.

⁷Therefore hear me now,mychildren,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
⁹Lest you give your^[e]honor to others,
And your years to the cruelone;
¹⁰Lest aliens be filled with your^[f]wealth,
And your laborsgoto the house of a foreigner;
¹¹And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
¹²And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
¹³I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
¹⁴I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
^[g]Streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with^(E)the wife of your youth.
¹⁹^(F)As aloving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be^[h]enraptured with her love.
²⁰For why should you, my son, be enraptured by^(G)an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

²¹^(H)For the ways of manarebefore the eyes of theLord,
And He^[i]ponders all his paths.
²²^(I)His own iniquities entrap the wickedman,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
²³^(J)He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.