5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and a.s.sembly.
5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers" with thee.
5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her b.r.e.a.s.t.s satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
6:3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
6:4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 6:7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 6:8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
6:12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
6:13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 6:14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
6:20 My son, keep thy father"s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 6:21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
6:22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
6:25 l.u.s.t not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adultress will hunt for the precious life.
6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour"s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 6:31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my cas.e.m.e.nt, 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 7:8 Pa.s.sing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 7:12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 7:14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
7:19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
7:24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
7:26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
7:27 Her house is the way to h.e.l.l, going down to the chambers of death.
8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 8:2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.