✧My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding, ✧2that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge. ✧3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, ✧4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. ✧5Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. ✧6She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it. ✧7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth. ✧8Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house, ✧9lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; ✧10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house. ✧11You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, ✧12and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof. ✧13I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! ✧14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.” ✧15Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well. ✧16Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? ✧17Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. ✧18Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. ✧19A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love. ✧20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another? ✧21For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths. ✧22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly. ✧23He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.