[1] My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,
[2] That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.
[3] For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
[4] But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
[5] Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell.
[6] Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.
[7] Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
[8] Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,
[9] Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one;
[10] Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
[11] And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,
[12] And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction!
[13] I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
[14] I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
[15] Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
[16] Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?
[17] Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.
[18] Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
[19] As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.
[20] For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
[21] For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths.
[22] His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
[23] He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.