Proverbs 5
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
5 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house,
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
19 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
Proverbs 5
Contemporary English Version
Be Faithful to Your Wife
5 My son, if you listen closely
to my wisdom and good sense,
2 you will have sound judgment,
and you will always know
the right thing to say.
3 The words of an immoral woman
may be as sweet as honey
and as smooth as olive oil.
4 But all that you really get
from being with her
is bitter poison and pain.
5 If you follow her,
she will lead you down
to the world of the dead.
6 She has missed the path
that leads to life
and doesn't even know it.
7 My son, listen to me
and do everything I say.
8 Stay away from a bad woman!
Don't even go near the door
of her house.
9 You will lose your self-respect
and end up in debt
to some cruel person
for the rest of your life.
10 Strangers will get your money
and everything else
you have worked for.
11 When it's all over,
your body will waste away,
as you groan 12 and shout,
“I hated advice and correction!
13 I paid no attention
to my teachers,
14 and now I am disgraced
in front of everyone.”
15 You should be faithful
to your wife,
just as you take water
from your own well.[a]
16 And don't be like a stream
from which just any woman
may take a drink.
17 Save yourself for your wife
and don't have sex
with other women.
18 Be happy with the wife
you married
when you were young.
19 She is beautiful and graceful,
just like a deer;
you should be attracted to her
and stay deeply in love.
20 Don't go crazy over a woman
who is unfaithful
to her own husband!
21 The Lord sees everything,
and he watches us closely.
22 Sinners are trapped and caught
by their own evil deeds.
23 They get lost and die
because of their foolishness
and lack of self-control.
Footnotes
- 5.15 own well: In biblical times water was scarce and wells were carefully guarded.
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