| Christian Standard Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding |
| 2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. | 2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. |
| 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, | 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, |
| 4in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. | 4in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. |
| 6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable. | 6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable. |
| 7So now, sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words from my mouth. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth. |
| 8Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house. | 8Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house. |
| 9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; | 9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; |
| 10strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner's house. | 10strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house. |
| 11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, | 11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, |
| 12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. | 12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. |
| 13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors. | 13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors. |
| 14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." | 14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. |
| 16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares? | 16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers. | 17They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers. |
| 18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. | 18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. |
| 19A loving deer, a graceful doe--let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever. | 19A loving doe, a graceful fawn-- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever. |
| 20Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? | 20Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger? |
| 21For a man's ways are before the LORD's eyes, and he considers all his paths. | 21For a man's ways are before the LORD's eyes, and He considers all his paths. |
| 22A wicked man's iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. | 22A wicked man's iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. |
| 23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. | 23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. |
|
    |