Proverbs 5:1-13 ▼

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding

2 so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

6 She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

7 So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.

8 Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

10 strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

11 At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.

13 I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors.