5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, [and] bow thine ear to my understanding:
5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,

5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep knowledge.
5:2 That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.

5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:
5:3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;

5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5:4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
5:5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell.

5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them].
5:6 Lest you ponder her path of life--Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.

5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
5:7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
5:8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,

5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
5:9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one;

5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours [be] in the house of a stranger;
5:10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
5:11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,

5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
5:12 And say: "How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction!

5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
5:13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!

5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
5:14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.

5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets.
5:16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?

5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
5:17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.

5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.

5:19 [Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
5:19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.

5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
5:20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

5:21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.

5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
5:22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.

5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
5:23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.