Mishlei 5

Mishlei (Book of Proverbs), Chapter 5

'"`UNIQ--named-00000000-QINU`"'¹ My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding;

'"`UNIQ--named-00000001-QINU`"'² That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000002-QINU`"'³ For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

'"`UNIQ--named-00000003-QINU`"'⁴ But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000004-QINU`"'⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on the nether-world;

'"`UNIQ--named-00000005-QINU`"'⁶ Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000006-QINU`"'⁷ Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000007-QINU`"'⁸ Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house;

'"`UNIQ--named-00000008-QINU`"'⁹ Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;

'"`UNIQ--named-00000009-QINU`"'¹⁰ Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien;

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000A-QINU`"'¹¹ And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000B-QINU`"'¹² And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000C-QINU`"'¹³ Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000D-QINU`"'¹⁴ I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.'

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000E-QINU`"'¹⁵ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

'"`UNIQ--named-0000000F-QINU`"'¹⁶ Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000010-QINU`"'¹⁷ Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000011-QINU`"'¹⁸ Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000012-QINU`"'¹⁹ A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000013-QINU`"'²⁰ Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien?

'"`UNIQ--named-00000014-QINU`"'²¹ For the ways of man are before the eyes of HaShem, and He maketh even all his paths.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000015-QINU`"'²² His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

'"`UNIQ--named-00000016-QINU`"'²³ He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.