5:1 My child, 2 be attentive to my wisdom,
pay close attention 3 to my understanding,
5:2 in order to safeguard 4 discretion, 5
and that your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips 6 of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her seductive words 7 are smoother than olive oil,
5:4 but in the end 8 she is bitter 9 as wormwood, 10
sharp as a two-edged 11 sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave. 12
5:6 Lest 13 she should make level the path leading to life, 14
her paths are unstable 15 but she does not know it. 16
5:7 So now, children, 17 listen to me;
do not turn aside from the words I speak. 18
5:8 Keep yourself 19 far 20 from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you give your vigor 21 to others
and your years to a cruel person,
5:10 lest strangers devour 22 your strength, 23
and your labor 24 benefit 25 another man’s house.
5:11 And at the end of your life 26 you will groan 27
when your flesh and your body are wasted away. 28
5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!
My heart spurned reproof!
5:13 For 29 I did not obey my teachers 30
and I did not heed 31 my instructors. 32
5:14 I almost 33 came to complete ruin 34
in the midst of the whole congregation!” 35
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well. 36
5:16 Should your springs be dispersed 37 outside,
your streams of water in the wide plazas?
5:17 Let them be for yourself 38 alone,
and not for strangers with you. 39
5:18 May your fountain be blessed, 40
and may you rejoice 41 in your young wife 42 –
5:19 a loving doe, 43 a graceful deer;
may her breasts satisfy you at all times,
may you be captivated 44 by her love always.
5:20 But why should you be captivated, 45 my son, by an adulteress,
and embrace the bosom of a different woman? 46
5:21 For the ways of a person 47 are in front of the Lord’s eyes,
and the Lord 48 weighs 49 all that person’s 50 paths.
5:22 The wicked 51 will be captured by his 52 own iniquities, 53
and he will be held 54 by the cords of his own sin. 55
5:23 He will die because 56 there was no discipline;
because of the greatness of his folly 57 he will reel. 58
6:1 My child, 60 if you have made a pledge 61 for your neighbor,
and 62 have become a guarantor 63 for a stranger, 64
6:2 if 65 you have been ensnared 66 by the words you have uttered, 67
and have been caught by the words you have spoken,
6:3 then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, 68
because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: 69
go, humble yourself, 70
and appeal firmly 71 to your neighbor.
6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes 72
or slumber to your eyelids.
6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, 73
and like a bird from the trap 74 of the fowler.
6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; 75
observe its ways and be wise!
6:7 It has no commander,
overseer, or 76 ruler,
6:8 yet it prepares its food in the summer;
it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. 77
6:9 How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?
When will you rise from your sleep? 78
6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to relax, 79
6:11 and your poverty will come like a robber, 80
and your need like an armed man. 81
6:12 A worthless and wicked person 82
walks around saying perverse 83 things; 84
6:13 he winks with his eyes,
signals with his feet,
and points with his fingers; 85
6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts 86 in his heart,
he spreads contention 87 at all times.
6:15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;
in an instant 88 he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.
6:16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
even 89 seven 90 things that are an abomination to him: 91
6:17 haughty eyes, 92 a lying tongue, 93
and hands that shed innocent blood, 94
6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, 95
feet that are swift to run 96 to evil,
6:19 a false witness who pours out lies, 97
and a person who spreads discord 98 among family members. 99
6:20 My child, guard the commands of your father
and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.
6:21 Bind them 100 on your heart continually;
fasten them around your neck.
6:22 When you walk about, 101 they 102 will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, 103 they will talk 104 to you.
6:23 For the commandments 105 are like 106 a lamp, 107
instruction is like a light,
and rebukes of discipline are like 108 the road leading to life, 109
6:24 by keeping 110 you from the evil woman, 111
from the smooth tongue of 112 the loose woman. 113
6:25 Do not lust 114 in your heart for her beauty,
and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; 115
6:26 for on account 116 of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread,
but the wife of another man 117 preys on your precious life. 118
6:27 Can a man hold 119 fire 120 against his chest 121
without 122 burning his clothes?
6:28 Can 123 a man walk on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
6:29 So it is with 124 the one who has sex with 125 his neighbor’s wife;
no one 126 who touches 127 her will escape 128 punishment. 129
6:30 People 130 do not despise a thief when he steals
to fulfill his need 131 when he is hungry.
6:31 Yet 132 if he is caught 133 he must repay 134 seven times over,
he might even have to give 135 all the wealth of his house.
6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, 136
whoever does it destroys his own life. 137
6:33 He will be beaten and despised, 138
and his reproach will not be wiped away; 139
6:34 for jealousy kindles 140 a husband’s 141 rage,
and he will not show mercy 142 when he takes revenge.
6:35 He will not consider 143 any compensation; 144
he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation. 145
7:1 My child, 147 keep my words
and treasure up my commands in your own keeping. 148
7:2 Keep my commands 149 so that you may live, 150
and obey 151 my instruction as your most prized possession. 152
7:3 Bind them on your forearm; 153
write them on the tablet of your heart. 154
7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” 155
and call understanding a close relative,
7:5 so that they may keep you 156 from the adulterous 157 woman,
from the loose woman 158 who flatters you 159 with her words. 160
7:6 For at the window of my house
through my window lattice I looked out
7:7 and I saw among the naive –
I discerned among the youths 161 –
a young man 162 who lacked wisdom. 163
7:8 He was passing by the street near her corner,
making his way 164 along the road to her house 165
7:9 in the twilight, the evening, 166
in the dark of the night. 167
7:10 Suddenly 168 a woman came out to meet him!
She was dressed like a prostitute 169 and with secret intent. 170
7:11 (She is loud and rebellious,
she 171 does not remain 172 at home –
7:12 at one time outside, at another 173 in the wide plazas,
and by every corner she lies in wait.)
7:13 So she grabbed him and kissed him,
and with a bold expression 174 she said to him,
7:14 “I have 175 fresh meat at home; 176
today I have fulfilled my vows!
7:15 That is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you, 177 and I found you!
7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings, 178
with richly colored fabric 179 from Egypt.
7:17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let’s drink deeply 180 of lovemaking 181 until morning,
let’s delight ourselves 182 with sexual intercourse. 183
7:19 For my husband 184 is not at home; 185
he has gone on a journey of some distance.
7:20 He has taken a bag of money with him; 186
he will not return until 187 the end of the month.” 188
7:21 She persuaded him 189 with persuasive words; 190
with her smooth talk 191 she compelled him. 192
7:22 Suddenly he went 193 after her
like an ox that goes to the slaughter,
like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare 194
7:23 till an arrow pierces his liver 195 –
like a bird hurrying into a trap,
and he does not know that it will cost him his life. 196
7:24 So now, sons, 197 listen to me,
and pay attention to the words I speak. 198
7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways –
do not wander into her pathways;
7:26 for she has brought down 199 many fatally wounded,
and all those she has slain are many. 200
7:27 Her house is the way to the grave, 201
going down 202 to the chambers 203 of death.