Proverbs 5:1--8:36

5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, [and] bow thine ear to my understanding: 5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep knowledge. 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil: 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them]. 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours [be] in the house of a stranger; 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets. 5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 5:19 [Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 5:21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. 6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, [if] thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. 6:3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. 6:4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. 6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 6:7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 6:8 Provideth her meat in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest. 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 6:10 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. 6:12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. 6:13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 6:14 Frowardness [is] in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. 6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. 6:16 These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him: 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 6:19 A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. 6:20 My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 6:21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, [and] tie them about thy neck. 6:22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and [when] thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. 6:23 For the commandment [is] a lamp; and the law [is] light; and reproofs of instruction [are] the way of life: 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. 6:30 [Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 6:31 But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. 6:32 [But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul. 6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. 6:34 For jealousy [is] the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts. 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman: 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger [which] flattereth with her words. 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 7:11 (She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 7:12 Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face said unto him, 7:14 [I have] peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of Egypt. 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 7:19 For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey: 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, [and] will come home at the day appointed. 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life. 7:24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 7:26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her. 7:27 Her house [is] the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. 8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 8:2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 8:3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. 8:4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice [is] to the sons of man. 8:5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 8:6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips [shall be] right things. 8:7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness [is] an abomination to my lips. 8:8 All the words of my mouth [are] in righteousness; [there is] nothing froward or perverse in them. 8:9 They [are] all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 8:11 For wisdom [is] better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. 8:12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. 8:13 The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 8:14 Counsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom: I [am] understanding; I have strength. 8:15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 8:16 By me princes rule, and nobles, [even] all the judges of the earth. 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. 8:18 Riches and honour [are] with me; [yea], durable riches and righteousness. 8:19 My fruit [is] better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 8:20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: 8:21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. 8:22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 8:23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 8:24 When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth; when [there were] no fountains abounding with water. 8:25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 8:26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I [was] there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 8:28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 8:29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 8:30 Then I was by him, [as] one brought up [with him]: and I was daily [his] delight, rejoicing always before him; 8:31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights [were] with the sons of men. 8:32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed [are they that] keep my ways. 8:33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 8:34 Blessed [is] the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 8:35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.