My son , pay attention to my wisdom ; incline your ear to my insight ,
that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech (is) smoother than oil ,
in the end she is bitter as wormwood , sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death ; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
She does not consider the path of life ; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
So now , my sons , listen and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
Keep your path far from her ; do not go near ... the door of her house ,
lest you concede your vigor to others , and your years to one who is cruel ;
lest strangers feast on your wealth , and your labors (enrich) the house of a foreigner.
At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent ,
and you will say , “ How I hated discipline , and my heart despised reproof !
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers (or) incline my ear to my mentors.
I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly .... ”
Drink water from your own cistern , and running water from your own well.
Why should your springs flow in the streets , your streams of water in the public squares ?
Let them be alone , never to be shared with strangers.
May your fountain be blessed , and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth :
A loving doe , a graceful fawn — may her breasts satisfy you always ... ; may you be captivated by her love forever.
Why be captivated , my son , by an adulteress , or embrace the bosom of a stranger ?
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD , and (the LORD) examines all his paths.
The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him ; - the cords of his sin entangle him.
He dies for lack of discipline , led astray by his own great folly.