Proverbs 5
HCSB Parallel ISV [BSB CSB ESV HCS KJV ISV NAS NET NIV NLT HEB]
Holman Christian Standard BibleInternational Standard Version
1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and listen closely to my insight,
2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. 2so you may carefully practice discretion and your lips preserve knowledge.
3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, 3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil.
4in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. 4But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead to Sheol.
6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable. 6You aren't thinking about where her life is headed; her steps wander, but you do not realize it.
7So now, my sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth. 7Now, children, listen to me. Don't turn away from what I am saying.
8Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house. 8Keep far away from her, and don't go near the entrance to her house,
9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; 9so that you don't give your honor to others, and waste your best years;
10strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house. 10so that strangers don't enrich themselves at your expense, and your work won't end up the possession of foreigners.
11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, 11You will cry out in anguish when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. 12and you will say, "How I hated instruction, and my heart rejected correction!
13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors. 13I did not obey my teachers and did not listen to my instructors.
14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." 14Now I am at the point of utter disaster in the assembly and in the congregation."
15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. 15Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well.
16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? 16Should your springs flow outside, or streams of water in the street?
17They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers. 17They should be for you alone and not for strangers who are with you.
18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. 18Let your fountain be blessed and enjoy the wife of your youth.
19A loving doe, a graceful fawn-- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever. 19Like a loving deer, a beautiful doe, let her breasts satisfy you all the time. Be constantly intoxicated by her love.
20Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger? 20Why should you be intoxicated by an adulteress, my son, and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?
21For a man's ways are before the LORD's eyes, and He considers all his paths. 21Indeed, what a man does is always in the LORD's presence, and he weighs all his paths.
22A wicked man's iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. 22The wicked person's iniquities will capture him, and he will be held with the cords of his sin.
23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. 23He will die for lack of discipline, and he goes astray because of his great folly.
Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.
Proverbs 4
Top of Page
Top of Page