1 - My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 - that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 - For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 - but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 - Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 - She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
7 - Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.
8 - Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
9 - lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity
10 - lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another.
11 - At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
12 - You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!
13 - I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 - And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God's people."
15 - Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
16 - Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 - Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 - May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 - A loving doe, a graceful deer - may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 - Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
21 - For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.
22 - The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 - For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.