| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New International Version |
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, |
| 2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. | 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. |
| 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, | 3For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; |
| 4in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. | 4but in the end she is bitter as gall, 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 lead straight to the grave. |
| 6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable. | 6She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. |
| 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth. | 7Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. |
| 8Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house. | 8Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, |
| 9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; | 9lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, |
| 10strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house. | 10lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. |
| 11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, | 11At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. |
| 12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. | 12You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! |
| 13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors. | 13I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. |
| 14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." | 14And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God's people." |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. |
| 16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? | 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers. | 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. |
| 18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. | 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. |
| 19A loving doe, a graceful fawn-- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever. | 19A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. |
| 20Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger? | 20Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? |
| 21For a man's ways are before the LORD's eyes, and He considers all his paths. | 21For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. |
| 22A wicked man's iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. | 22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. |
| 23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. | 23For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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