| Chapter 5 |
1 |
My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear, -
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2 |
To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep. -
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3 |
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth, -
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4 |
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths. -
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5 |
Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of. -
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6 |
The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not. -
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7 |
And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth. -
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8 |
Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house, -
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9 |
Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce, -
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10 |
Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger, -
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11 |
And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food, -
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12 |
And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised, -
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13 |
And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear. -
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14 |
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company. -
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15 |
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well. -
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16 |
Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters. -
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17 |
Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee. -
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18 |
Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth, -
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19 |
A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually. -
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20 |
And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman? -
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21 |
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering. -
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22 |
His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden. -
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23 |
He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself! -
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