Proverbs 5:1-14 ▼

1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,

2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil is her mouth,

4 And her latter end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword with mouths.

5 Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.

6 The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not.

7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.

8 Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,

9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,

11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,

12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,

13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.

14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.