Proverbs 5:1-23 AMPC

[1] My son, be attentive to my Wisdom [godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience], and incline your ear to my understanding [of what is becoming and prudent for you], [2] That you may exercise proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer [to temptation]. [3] For the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil; [4] But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword. [5] Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). [6] She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them. [7] Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. [8] Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation], [9] Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy, [10] Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God]- [11] And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, [12] And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof! [13] I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me. [14] [The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation and the community. [15] Drink waters out of your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship], and fresh running waters out of your own well. [16] Should your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets? [17] [Confine yourself to your own wife] let your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you. [18] Let your fountain [of human life] be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], and rejoice in the wife of your youth. [19] Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe [tender, gentle, attractive]-let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love. [20] Why should you, my son, be infatuated with a loose woman, embrace the bosom of an outsider, and go astray? [21] For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord, and He [Who would have us live soberly, chastely, and godly] carefully weighs all man's goings. [22] His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin. [23] He will die for lack of discipline and instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray and be lost.