5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight,
5:2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
5:3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
5:4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
5:6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
5:7 Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.
5:8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity* to one who is cruel, / *Or years
5:10 lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another.
5:11 At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
5:12 You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!
5:13 I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.
5:14 And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
5:16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
5:17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
5:18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
5:19 A loving doe, a graceful deer - may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
5:20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
5:21 For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.
5:22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.
5:23 For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.