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Warning Against Adultery

¹ My son, ^(C1)pay attention to my wisdom,
^(C2)Incline your ear to my discernment;

² That you may ^(C1)keep discretion
And that your ^(C2)lips may guard knowledge.

³ For the lips of a ^(C1)strange woman ^(C2)drip honey
And ^(C3)smoother than oil is her ^(F1)speech;

⁴ But her end is ^(C1)bitter as wormwood,
^(C2)Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵ Her feet ^(C1)go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol,

⁶ Lest she watch the ^(C1)path of life;
Her tracks are ^(C2)unstable, she ^(C3)does not know it.

^7 (C1)So now, my sons, listen to me
And ^(C2)do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

^8 (C1)Keep your way far from her
And do not go near the ^(C2)door of her house,

⁹ Lest you give your splendor to others
And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰ Lest strangers be satisfied by your strength
And by your painful labor, those in the house of a foreigner;

¹¹ And you groan at your ^(F1)end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹² And you say, "How I have ^(C1)hated discipline!
And my heart ^(C2)spurned reproof!

¹³ "I have not listened to the voice of my ^(C1)instructors,
And I have not inclined my ear to my teachers!

¹⁴ "I was almost in utter ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern
And ^(F1)fresh water from your own well.

¹⁶ Should your ^(C1)springs be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷ Let them be for you alone,
And not for strangers with you.

¹⁸ Let your ^(C1)fountain be blessed,
And ^(C2)be glad in the ^(C3)wife of your youth.

¹⁹ As a loving ^(C1)hind and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be ^(F1)intoxicated always with her love.

²⁰ So why should you, my son, be intoxicated with a ^(C1)strange woman
And embrace the bosom of a ^(C2)foreign woman?

²¹ For the ^(C1)ways of a man are before the eyes of Yahweh,
And He ^(C2)watches all his tracks.

²² His ^(C1)own iniquities will capture him who is the wicked one,
And with the cords of his sin he will be held fast.

²³ He will ^(C1)die for lack of discipline,
And in the abundance of his ^(F1)folly he will ^(F2)stumble in intoxication.