| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel. |
| 2That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. | 2Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned. |
| 3For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, 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 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged 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 lay hold of hell. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. |
| 6Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. | 6For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it. |
| 7Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say: |
| 8Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, | 8Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! |
| 9Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; | 9If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved. |
| 10Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; | 10Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor. |
| 11And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, | 11In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body. |
| 12And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! | 12You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings! |
| 13I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! | 13Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? |
| 14I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” | 14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.” |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. |
| 16Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? | 16Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone? |
| 17Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. | 17You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers. |
| 18Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. | 18Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. |
| 19As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured 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. |
| 20For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? | 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 ponders all his paths. | 21For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. |
| 22His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. | 22An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. |
| 23He shall die for lack of 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. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | 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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