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Proverbs 5
Evangelical Heritage Version
Proverbs 5
Evangelical Heritage Version
Seventh Address to a Son:
Wisdom Teaches You to Avoid Adultery
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Open your ears to my understanding,
2 so that you may hold on to insight,
so your lips may guard knowledge,
3 because the lips of an immoral woman drip with honey,
and her words are[a] as smooth as olive oil,
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood[b]
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death.
Her steps lead to hell.[c]
6 She gives no thought to the path of life.[d]
Her ways wander, but she doesn’t realize it.
7 Now, you sons, listen to me.
Do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her.
Do not go near the doorway of her house.
9 If you do, you will give your wealth to others
and your years to a cruel person.
10 If you do, your work will satisfy strangers,
and the results of your labor will end up in another man’s house.
11 You will groan when your end comes,
when your body and flesh are consumed.
12 Then you will say, “Oh, how I hated discipline,
and my heart despised warnings!
13 I did not listen to my teachers’ voices,
and I did not open my ears to hear my instructors.
14 I soon[e] reached total ruin
in the midst of the assembly of the community.”
Encouragement to Faithfulness in Marriage
15 Drink water from your own cistern.
Drink running water from your own well.
16 Why should the water from your springs flow out into the street,
your streams of water into the public squares?
17 They should be yours, yours alone.
They are not for strangers to share with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed.
Obtain your joy from the wife you married in your youth,
19 who is a loving doe and a graceful deer.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times.
Always be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why should you be led astray, my son, by an immoral woman?
Why embrace a woman who is not your wife?
21 For the ways of a man are in front of the eyes of the Lord,
and he weighs all of his paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked man will capture him,
and he will be bound by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die for lack of discipline,
and he will go astray because of his great stupidity.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:3 Literally her palate is
- Proverbs 5:4 Wormwood is a toxic, bitter-tasting drink (absinthe).
- Proverbs 5:5 Or the grave. The Hebrew word is sheol.
- Proverbs 5:6 Or she does not make the paths of life level
- Proverbs 5:14 Or almost
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Warning Against Adultery
5 My son,(A) pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words(B) of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;(C)
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,(D)
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.(E)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.(F)
7 Now then, my sons, listen(G) to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,(H)
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.(I)
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!(J)
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble(K)
in the assembly of God’s people.”(L)
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain(M) be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.(N)
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer(O)—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:9 Or years
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.