International Standard Version | Berean Study Bible |
1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and listen closely to my insight, | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight, |
2so you may carefully practice discretion and your lips preserve knowledge. | 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. |
3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. | 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, |
4But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a double-edged sword. | 4in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. |
5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead to Sheol. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. |
6You aren't thinking about where her life is headed; her steps wander, but you do not realize it. | 6She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. |
7Now, children, listen to me. Don't turn away from what I am saying. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth. |
8Keep far away from her, and don't go near the entrance to her house, | 8Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, |
9so that you don't give your honor to others, and waste your best years; | 9lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; |
10so that strangers don't enrich themselves at your expense, and your work won't end up the possession of foreigners. | 10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. |
11You will cry out in anguish when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, | 11At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, |
12and you will say, "How I hated instruction, and my heart rejected correction! | 12and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! |
13I did not obey my teachers and did not listen to my instructors. | 13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. |
14Now I am at the point of utter disaster in the assembly and in the congregation." | 14I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.” |
15Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. |
16Should your springs flow outside, or streams of water in the street? | 16Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? |
17They should be for you alone and not for strangers who are with you. | 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. |
18Let your fountain be blessed and enjoy the wife of your youth. | 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth: |
19Like a loving deer, a beautiful doe, let her breasts satisfy you all the time. Be constantly intoxicated by her love. | 19A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever. |
20Why should you be intoxicated by an adulteress, my son, and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman? | 20Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger? |
21Indeed, what a man does is always in the LORD's presence, and he weighs all his paths. | 21For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths. |
22The wicked person's iniquities will capture him, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. | 22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. |
23He will die for lack of discipline, and he goes astray because of his great folly. | 23He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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