New American Standard Bible

King James Bible

Pitfalls of Immorality

My son, give attention to my wisdom,
Incline your ear to my understanding;

1

Avoid Immorality

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

2

That you may observe discretion
And your lips may reserve knowledge.

2

That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;

3

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

4

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.

4

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5

Her feet go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.

5

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6

She does not ponder the path of life;
Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

6

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

7

Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

7

Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8

Keep your way far from her
And do not go near the door of her house,

8

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9

Or you will give your vigor to others
And your years to the cruel one;

9

Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10

And strangers will be filled with your strength
And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien;

10

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

11

And you groan at your final end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;

11

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12

And you say, “How I have hated instruction!
And my heart spurned reproof!

12

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

13

“I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!

13

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14

“I was almost in utter ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

14

I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15

Drink water from your own cistern
And fresh water from your own well.

15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16

Should your springs be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?

16

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

17

Let them be yours alone
And not for strangers with you.

17

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

18

Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

18

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

19

As a loving hind and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be exhilarated always with her love.

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.

20

For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

20

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths.

21

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

22

His own iniquities will capture the wicked,
And he will be held with the cords of his sin.

22

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

23

He will die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

23

He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Parallel

New American Standard Bible

King James Bible

Proverbs 5

Proverbs 5