1My son, attend unto my wisdom, incline thine ear to my understanding;

2that thou mayest keep reflection, and that thy lips may preserve knowledge.

3For the lips of the strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

4but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol.

6Lest she should ponder the path of life, her ways wander, she knoweth not [whither].

7And now, children, 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 honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;

10lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and the fruits of thy toil [come] into the house of a stranger;

11and thou mourn in thine end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed;

12and thou say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!

13and I have not hearkened unto the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to those that instructed me;

14I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.

17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

18Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.

19As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: be thou ravished continually with her love.

20And why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he pondereth 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 want of discipline; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.