1 ¶ My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and listen closely to gain understanding:

2 So that you may conduct yourself wisely, and speak intelligently.

3 For the lips of an adulterous woman drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

4 But her end is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps go straight to hell.

6 She does not think about the path life takes, she does not know where her way is leading.

7 Therefore listen to me, my sons, and do not turn away from what I tell you.

8 Keep far away from her, and do not go near the door of her house:

9 Or you will give your honor to others, and your years to those without mercy:

10 Strangers will drain your resources; and your earnings will end up in the house of a foreigner;

11 Then you will groan when your end comes, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and how my heart despised reproof;

13 I did not listen to what my teachers taught me, or hear what my instructors said!

14 I was on the verge of total ruin in the estimation of the congregation and community.

15 ¶ Drink waters out of your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.

16 Why should your seed be scattered around, like streams of waters in the street.

17 Keep them for yourself alone, and do not share them with strangers.

18 Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

19 Let her be as a loving doe and a graceful fawn; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be continually captivated with her love.

20 Why should you, my son, be infatuated with an adulterous woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 For the path that a man takes is seen by the eyes of the LORD, and he considers all his ways.

22 A wicked person will be ensnared by his own sin, and he will be entangled with the cords of his own iniquity.

23 He will die lacking instruction; and will be lost because of all his foolish lust.