| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: | 1My child, be attentive to my wisdom, pay close attention to my understanding, |
| 2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. | 2in order to safeguard discretion, and that your lips may guard knowledge. |
| 3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: | 3For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her seductive words are smoother than olive oil, |
| 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. | 4but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. |
| 6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. | 6Lest she should make level the path leading to life, her paths are unstable but she does not know it. |
| 7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. | 7So now, children, listen to me; do not turn aside from the words I speak. |
| 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: | 8Keep yourself far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, |
| 9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: | 9lest you give your vigor to others and your years to a cruel person, |
| 10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; | 10lest strangers devour your strength, and your labor benefit another man's house. |
| 11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, | 11And at the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are wasted away. |
| 12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; | 12And you will say, "How I hated discipline! My heart spurned reproof! |
| 13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! | 13For I did not obey my teachers and I did not heed my instructors. |
| 14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. | 14I almost came to complete ruin in the midst of the whole congregation!" |
| 15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well. |
| 16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. | 16Should your springs be dispersed outside, your streams of water in the wide plazas? |
| 17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. | 17Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. |
| 18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. | 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in your young wife-- |
| 19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. | 19a loving doe, a graceful deer; may her breasts satisfy you at all times, may you be captivated by her love always. |
| 20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? | 20But why should you be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a different woman? |
| 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. | 21For the ways of a person are in front of the LORD's eyes, and the LORD weighs all that person's paths. |
| 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. | 22The wicked will be captured by his own iniquities, and he will be held by the cords of his own sin. |
| 23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. | 23He will die because there was no discipline; because of the greatness of his folly he will reel. |
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