1My son , attend unto my wisdom ; Incline thine ear to my understanding : 2That thou mayest preserve discretion , And that thy lips may keep knowledge . 3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey , And her mouth is smoother than oil : 4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood , Sharp as a two-edged sword . 5Her feet go down to death ; Her steps take hold on Sheol ; 6So that she findeth not the level path of life : Her ways are unstable , and she knoweth it not . 7Now therefore , my sons , hearken unto me , And depart not from the words of my mouth . 8Remove thy way far from her , And come not nigh the door of her house ; 9Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel; 10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength , And thy labors be in the house of an alien , 11And thou mourn at thy latter end , When thy flesh and thy body are consumed , 12And say, How have I hated instruction , And my heart despised reproof ; 13Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers , Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me ! 14I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation .
The Consequences of Adultery
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well. 16Should thy springs be dispersed abroad , And streams of water in the streets ? 17Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee. 18Let thy fountain be blessed ; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth . 19As a loving hind and a pleasant doe , Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times ; And be thou ravished always with her love. 20For why shouldest thou , my son , be ravished with a strange woman , And embrace the bosom of a foreigner ? 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah ; And he maketh level all his paths . 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked , And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin . 23He shall die for lack of instruction ; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray .