¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

turn your ear to my words of insight,

²that you may maintain discretion

and your lips may preserve knowledge.

³For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴but in the end she is bitter as gall,

sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave.

⁶She gives no thought to the way of life;

her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me;

do not turn aside from what I say.

⁸Keep to a path far from her,

do not go near the door of her house,

⁹lest you lose your honour to others

and your dignity to one who is cruel,

¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth

and your toil enrich the house of another.

¹¹At the end of your life you will groan,

when your flesh and body are spent.

¹²You will say, ‘How I hated discipline!

How my heart spurned correction!

¹³I would not obey my teachers

or turn my ear to my instructors.

¹⁴And I was soon in serious trouble

in the assembly of God’s people.’

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,

running water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets,

your streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be yours alone,

never to be shared with strangers.

¹⁸May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving doe, a graceful deer –

may her breasts satisfy you always,

may you ever be intoxicated with her love.

²⁰Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?

Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹For your ways are in full view of the Lord,

and he examines all your paths.

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;

the cords of their sins hold them fast.

²³For lack of discipline they will die,

led astray by their own great folly.