5

1My son, pay attention to my wisdom.

Turn your ear to my understanding,

2that you may maintain discretion,

that your lips may preserve knowledge.

3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey.

Her mouth is smoother than oil,

4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,

and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

5Her feet go down to death.

Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

6She gives no thought to the way of life.

Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.

7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me.

Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.

8Remove your way far from her.

Don’t come near the door of her house,

9lest you give your honor to others,

and your years to the cruel one;

10lest strangers feast on your wealth,

and your labors enrich another man’s house.

11You will groan at your latter end,

when your flesh and your body are consumed,

12and say, “How I have hated instruction,

and my heart despised reproof.

13I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers,

nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

14I have come to the brink of utter ruin,

among the gathered assembly.”

15Drink water out of your own cistern,

running water out of your own well.

16Should your springs overflow in the streets,

streams of water in the public squares?

17Let them be for yourself alone,

not for strangers with you.

18Let your spring be blessed.

Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19A loving doe and a graceful deer—

let her breasts satisfy you at all times.

Be captivated always with her love.

20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?

Why embrace the bosom of another?

21For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes.

He examines all his paths.

22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him.

The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

23He will die for lack of instruction.

In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

6

1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor,

if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

2you are trapped by the words of your mouth;

you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,

since you have come into the hand of your neighbor.

Go, humble yourself.

Press your plea with your neighbor.

4Give no sleep to your eyes,

nor slumber to your eyelids.

5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, you sluggard.

Consider her ways, and be wise;

7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

8provides her bread in the summer,

and gathers her food in the harvest.

9How long will you sleep, sluggard?

When will you arise out of your sleep?

10A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to sleep—

11so your poverty will come as a robber,

and your scarcity as an armed man.

12A worthless person, a man of iniquity,

is he who walks with a perverse mouth,

13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,

who motions with his fingers,

14in whose heart is perverseness,

who devises evil continually,

who always sows discord.

15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.

He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

16There are six things which Yahweh hates;

yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

17arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19a false witness who utters lies,

and he who sows discord among brothers.

20My son, keep your father’s commandment,

and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

21Bind them continually on your heart.

Tie them around your neck.

22When you walk, it will lead you.

When you sleep, it will watch over you.

When you awake, it will talk with you.

23For the commandment is a lamp,

and the law is light.

Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

24to keep you from the immoral woman,

from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart,

neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.

The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

27Can a man scoop fire into his lap,

and his clothes not be burned?

28Or can one walk on hot coals,

and his feet not be scorched?

29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife.

Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

30Men don’t despise a thief

if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,

31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times.

He shall give all the wealth of his house.

32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.

He who does it destroys his own soul.

33He will get wounds and dishonor.

His reproach will not be wiped away.

34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.

He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.

35He won’t regard any ransom,

neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

7

1My son, keep my words.

Lay up my commandments within you.

2Keep my commandments and live!

Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

3Bind them on your fingers.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”

Call understanding your relative,

5that they may keep you from the strange woman,

from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

6For at the window of my house,

I looked out through my lattice.

7I saw among the simple ones.

I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

8passing through the street near her corner,

he went the way to her house,

9in the twilight, in the evening of the day,

in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

10Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute,

and with crafty intent.

11She is loud and defiant.

Her feet don’t stay in her house.

12Now she is in the streets, now in the squares,

and lurking at every corner.

13So she caught him, and kissed him.

With an impudent face she said to him:

14“Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me.

Today I have paid my vows.

15Therefore I came out to meet you,

to diligently seek your face,

and I have found you.

16I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry,

with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning.

Let’s solace ourselves with loving.

19For my husband isn’t at home.

He has gone on a long journey.

20He has taken a bag of money with him.

He will come home at the full moon.”

21With persuasive words, she led him astray.

With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

22He followed her immediately,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

as a fool stepping into a noose.

23Until an arrow strikes through his liver,

as a bird hurries to the snare,

and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.

24Now therefore, sons, listen to me.

Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

25Don’t let your heart turn to her ways.

Don’t go astray in her paths,

26for she has thrown down many wounded.

Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

27Her house is the way to Sheol,

going down to the rooms of death.

8

1Doesn’t wisdom cry out?

Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?

2On the top of high places by the way,

where the paths meet, she stands.

3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,

at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

4“I call to you men!

I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

5You simple, understand prudence!

You fools, be of an understanding heart!

6Hear, for I will speak excellent things.

The opening of my lips is for right things.

7For my mouth speaks truth.

Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness.

There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

9They are all plain to him who understands,

right to those who find knowledge.

10Receive my instruction rather than silver,

knowledge rather than choice gold.

11For wisdom is better than rubies.

All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it.

12“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling.

Find out knowledge and discretion.

13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil.

I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.

14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine.

I have understanding and power.

15By me kings reign,

and princes decree justice.

16By me princes rule,

nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.

17I love those who love me.

Those who seek me diligently will find me.

18With me are riches, honor,

enduring wealth, and prosperity.

19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,

my yield than choice silver.

20I walk in the way of righteousness,

in the middle of the paths of justice,

21that I may give wealth to those who love me.

I fill their treasuries.

22“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work,

before his deeds of old.

23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

before the earth existed.

24When there were no depths, I was born,

when there were no springs abounding with water.

25Before the mountains were settled in place,

before the hills, I was born;

26while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,

nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

27When he established the heavens, I was there.

When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

28when he established the clouds above,

when the springs of the deep became strong,

29when he gave to the sea its boundary,

that the waters should not violate his commandment,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

30then I was the craftsman by his side.

I was a delight day by day,

always rejoicing before him,

31rejoicing in his whole world.

My delight was with the sons of men.

32“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,

for blessed are those who keep my ways.

33Hear instruction, and be wise.

Don’t refuse it.

34Blessed is the man who hears me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting at my door posts.

35For whoever finds me finds life,

and will obtain favor from Yahweh.

36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul.

All those who hate me love death.”