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Pitfalls of Immorality

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

² So that you may ^(C1)maintain discretion
And your ^(C2)lips may comply with knowledge.

³ For the lips of an ^(F1)(C1)adulteress ^(C2)drip honey,
And her ^(F2)speech is ^(C3)smoother than oil;

⁴ But in the end she 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 (F1)She does not ponder the ^(C1)path of life;
Her ways are ^(C2)unstable, she ^(C3)does not know it.

^7 (C1)Now then, 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 Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰ And strangers will be filled with your strength,
And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹ And you will groan ^(F1)in ^(F2)the end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹² And you say, "How I ^(C1)hated instruction!
And my heart ^(C2)disdainfully rejected rebuke!

¹³ "I did not listen to the voice of my ^(C1)teachers,
Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

¹⁴ "I was almost in total 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 overflow into the street,
Streams of water in the public squares?

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

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

¹⁹ Like a loving ^(C1)doe and a graceful mountain goat,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be ^(F1)exhilarated always with her love.

²⁰ For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an ^(F1)(C1)adulteress,
And embrace the breasts of a ^(C2)foreigner?

²¹ For the ^(C1)ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He ^(C2)observes all his paths.

²² His ^(C1)own wrongdoings will trap the wicked,
And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

²³ He will ^(C1)die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.