| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel. |
| 2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. | 2Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned. |
| 3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: | 3For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. |
| 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. | 4But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous 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. | 6For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it. |
| 7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say: |
| 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: | 8Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! |
| 9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: | 9If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved. |
| 10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; | 10Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor. |
| 11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, | 11In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body. |
| 12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; | 12You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings! |
| 13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! | 13Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? |
| 14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. | 14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.” |
| 15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. | 15Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. |
| 16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. | 16Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone? |
| 17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. | 17You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers. |
| 18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. | 18Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for 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. | 19She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. |
| 20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? | 20Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman? |
| 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. | 21For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. |
| 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. | 22An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. |
| 23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. | 23He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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