Proverbs Chapter 5

5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

5:2 that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

5:3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

5:4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to [4] Sheol [See Proverbs Footnotes 4].

5:6 She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

5:7 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don't depart from the words of my mouth.

5:8 Remove your way far from her. Don't come near the door of her house,

5:9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

(e) That is, your strength and goods to her who will have no pity on you as is read of Samson and the prodigal son.

5:10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

5:11 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

5:12 and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

5:13 neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

5:14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

(g) Although I was faithfully instructed in the truth, yet I almost fell to utter shame and destruction nonetheless, by good bringing up in the assembly of the godly.

5:15 Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

(h) He teaches us sobriety exhorting us to live of our own labours and to be beneficial to the godly who want.

5:16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

5:17 Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

(i) Distribute them not to the wicked and infidels, but reserve them for yourself, your family and them who are of the household of faith.

5:18 Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

(k) Your children who will come from you in great abundance showing that God blesses marriage and curses whoredom.
(l) Who you married in your youth.

5:19 A loving doe and a graceful deer-- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

5:20 For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths.

(m) He declares that unless a man joins to his wife both in heart and in outward conversation, he will not escape the judgments of God.

5:22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

5:23 He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.