My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
Incline your ear to my understanding,

That you may keep discretion,
And your lips may guard knowledge.

For the lips of a  ¹strange woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil;

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death;
Her steps hold fast to Sheol.

She does not make straight the path of life:
Her ways wander, and she does not know it.

And now, my sons, listen to me,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Keep your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house;

Lest you give your honor to others,
And your years to the cruel;

Lest strangers be filled with your wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

And you mourn at your end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,

And you say, How I have hated instruction,
And my heart has despised reproof!

And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors;

I was almost into every evil
In the midst of the congregation and assembly.

Drink waters out of your own cistern,
And running water out of your own well.

Should your springs be shed forth,
Like streams of water in the streets?

Let them be yours alone,
And not for strangers with you.

Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice in the wife of your youth,

A lovely hind and a graceful doe.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times.

For why should you be ravished, my son, with a strange woman
And embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of Jehovah,
And He ponders all his paths.

The wicked man is taken by his own iniquities,
And he is held fast by the cords of his own sin.

He will die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

My son, if you have become a surety for your neighbor,
If you have given your hands as a pledge for a stranger,

You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are caught by the words of your mouth.

Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

Do not give sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand
And like a bird from the fowler's hand.

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
Consider its ways, and be wise,

Which, having no chief,
Officer, or ruler,

Prepares its food in summer
And gathers its sustenance in the harvest.

How long, sluggard, will you lie there?
When will you arise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,

And your poverty will come upon you like a robber,
And your want, like an armed man.

A worthless man, a wicked man,
Goes around with a perverse mouth,

Winking with his eyes, signaling with his feet,
Pointing with his fingers;

With perverseness in his heart, he is devising evil continually;
He injects discord.

Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
In a moment he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

There are six things that Jehovah hates;
Indeed, seven that are an abomination to His soul:

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked schemes,
Feet that hurry to run to evil,

A false witness who utters lies,
And one who injects discord among brothers.

My son, keep the commandment of your father,
And do not reject the teaching of your mother;

Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.

When you walk about, it will guide you,
When you lie down, it will watch over you;
And when you awake, it will talk with you.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light,
And the reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

To keep you from the evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her catch you with her eyelids;

For the price of a harlot is a loaf of bread,
But the wife of another man hunts for the precious soul.

Can a man take fire in his bosom
And his clothes not be burned?

Can a man walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?

So it is with him who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
No one who touches her will be unpunished.

The thief is not despised if he steals
To satisfy himself when he is hungry;

But if he is found out, he shall restore sevenfold;
He must give over all the substance of his house.

He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense;
He who does it destroys his own soul.

He will find wounds and dishonor,
And his reproach will not be wiped away.

For jealousy is the rage of a man,
And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will not regard any ransom,
Nor will he be content if you give him great gifts.

My son, keep my words,
And treasure up my commandments within you.

Keep my commandments, and live;
And my teaching, like the apple of your eye.

Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, You are my sister,
And call understanding your close friend,

That they may keep you from the strange woman,
From the adulteress who flatters with her words.

For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,

And I saw among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man lacking sense,

Passing along the street near her corner;
And he takes the way to her house,

In the twilight, in the evening of the day,
In the deep of night and darkness.

And there comes a woman to meet him,
Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.

She is rowdy and defiant;
Her feet do not stay at home —

Now in the street, now in the squares,
And at every corner she lies in wait.

And she grabs him and kisses him;
And with an impudent face she says to him,

I had to make offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.

Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To earnestly seek your presence; and I have found you.

I have decked my couch with coverings,
Colored spreads of the linen of Egypt;

I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh,
Aloes, and cinnamon.

Come, let us drink our fill of love until the morning;
Let us delight ourselves with love.

For my husband is not at home;
He has gone on a long journey.

He has taken the money bag with him;
He will come home at the full moon.

With her great persuasiveness she beguiles him;
With her smooth talk she compels him.

He goes after her immediately,
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as someone in fetters, to the correction of the fool,

Until an arrow pierces through his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that this will cost him his life.

And now, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;
Do not stray into her paths.

For many are those whom she has brought down wounded,
And numerous are all who have been slain by her.

Her house is the way to Sheol,
Going down to the chambers of death.

Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?

On the top of the heights, by the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries aloud:

To you, O men, I call;
And my voice is to the sons of men.

O simple ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, be of an understanding heart.

Hear, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will yield right things.

For my mouth will utter truth,
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

They are all straight to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.

Receive my instruction, and not silver;
And knowledge rather than choice gold.

For wisdom is better than corals,
And nothing that you desire compares with her.

 ¹I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth, I hate.

Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding; I have might.

By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.

By me princes rule,
And nobles — all who judge righteously.

I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.

Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold;
And my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,

That I may cause those who love me to inherit substance
And that I may fill their treasuries.

Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.

I was set up from eternity,
From the beginning, before the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;

When He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.

When He established the heavens, I was there;
When He inscribed a circle upon the surface of the deep,

When He made firm the skies above,
When the fountains of the deep became strong,

When He set for the sea its boundary,
That the waters should not transgress His commandment,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;

Then I was by Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,

Rejoicing in His habitable earth;
And my delight was in the sons of men.

Now therefore, my sons, listen to me;
For blessed are they who keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise;
And do not neglect it.

Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my doors,
Waiting at my doorposts.

For whoever finds me finds life,
And will obtain favor from Jehovah.

But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All who hate me love death.