| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, |
| 2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. | 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. |
| 3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: | 3For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; |
| 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. | 4but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. |
| 6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. | 6She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. |
| 7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. | 7Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. |
| 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: | 8Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, |
| 9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: | 9lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, |
| 10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; | 10lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. |
| 11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, | 11At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. |
| 12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; | 12You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! |
| 13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! | 13I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. |
| 14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. | 14And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God's people." |
| 15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. |
| 16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. | 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. | 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. |
| 18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. | 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. |
| 19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. | 19A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. |
| 20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? | 20Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? |
| 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. | 21For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. |
| 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. | 22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. |
| 23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. | 23For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. |
|
