5:1 My child, ²  be attentive to my wisdom,

pay close attention ³  to my understanding,

5:2 in order to safeguard ⁴  discretion, ⁵ 

and that your lips may guard knowledge.

5:3 For the lips ⁶  of the adulterous woman drip honey,

and her seductive words ⁷  are smoother than olive oil,

5:4 but in the end ⁸  she is bitter ⁹  as wormwood, ¹⁰ 

sharp as a two-edged ¹¹  sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave. ¹² 

5:6 Lest ¹³  she should make level the path leading to life, ¹⁴ 

her paths are unstable ¹⁵  but she does not know it. ¹⁶ 

5:7 So now, children, ¹⁷  listen to me;

do not turn aside from the words I speak. ¹⁸ 

5:8 Keep yourself ¹⁹  far ²⁰  from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

5:9 lest you give your vigor ²¹  to others

and your years to a cruel person,

5:10 lest strangers devour ²²  your strength, ²³ 

and your labor ²⁴  benefit ²⁵  another man’s house.

5:11 And at the end of your life ²⁶  you will groan ²⁷ 

when your flesh and your body are wasted away. ²⁸ 

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For ²⁹  I did not obey my teachers ³⁰ 

and I did not heed ³¹  my instructors. ³² 

5:14 I almost ³³  came to complete ruin ³⁴ 

in the midst of the whole congregation!” ³⁵ 

5:15 Drink water from your own cistern

and running water from your own well. ³⁶ 

5:16 Should your springs be dispersed ³⁷  outside,

your streams of water in the wide plazas?

5:17 Let them be for yourself ³⁸  alone,

and not for strangers with you. ³⁹ 

5:18 May your fountain be blessed, ⁴⁰ 

and may you rejoice ⁴¹  in your young wife ⁴²  –

5:19 a loving doe, ⁴³  a graceful deer;

may her breasts satisfy you at all times,

may you be captivated ⁴⁴  by her love always.

5:20 But why should you be captivated, ⁴⁵  my son, by an adulteress,

and embrace the bosom of a different woman? ⁴⁶ 

5:21 For the ways of a person ⁴⁷  are in front of the Lord’s eyes,

and the Lord ⁴⁸  weighs ⁴⁹  all that person’s ⁵⁰  paths.

5:22 The wicked ⁵¹  will be captured by his ⁵²  own iniquities, ⁵³ 

and he will be held ⁵⁴  by the cords of his own sin. ⁵⁵ 

5:23 He will die because ⁵⁶  there was no discipline;

because of the greatness of his folly ⁵⁷  he will reel. ⁵⁸ 

6:1 When humankind ¹  began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born ²  to them, ³