Proverbs 5–7: The Warnings at the Door
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom;incline your ear to my insight,that you may maintain discretionand your lips may preserve knowledge.Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honeyand her speech is smoother than oil,in the end she is bitter as wormwood,sharp as a double-edged sword.Her feet go down to death;her steps lead straight to Sheol.She does not consider the path of life;she does not know that her ways are unstable.
So now, my sons, listen to me,and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.Keep your path far from her;do not go near the door of her house,lest you concede your vigor to others,and your years to one who is cruel;lest strangers feast on your wealth,and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.At the end of your life you will groanwhen your flesh and your body are spent,and you will say, “How I hated discipline,and my heart despised reproof!I did not listen to the voice of my teachersor incline my ear to my mentors.I am on the brink of utter ruinin the midst of the whole assembly.”
Drink water from your own cistern,and running water from your own well.Why should your springs flow in the streets,your streams of water in the public squares?Let them be yours alone,never to be shared with strangers.May your fountain be blessed,and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always;may you be captivated by her love forever.Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress,or embrace the bosom of a stranger?For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,and the LORD examines all his paths.The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him;the cords of his sin entangle him.He dies for lack of discipline,led astray by his own great folly.My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,if you have been trapped by the words of your lips,ensnared by the words of your mouth,then do this, my son, to free yourself,for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:Go, humble yourself,and press your plea with your neighbor.Allow no sleep to your eyesor slumber to your eyelids.Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker;observe its ways and become wise.Without a commander,without an overseer or ruler,it prepares its provisions in summer;it gathers its food at harvest.How long will you lie there, O slacker?When will you get up from your sleep?A little sleep, a little slumber,a little folding of the hands to rest,and poverty will come upon you like a robber,and need like a bandit.
A worthless person, a wicked man,walks with a perverse mouth,winking his eyes, speaking with his feet,and pointing with his fingers.With deceit in his heart he devises evil;he continually sows discord.Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
My son, keep your father’s commandment,and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.Bind them always upon your heart;tie them around your neck.When you walk, they will guide you;when you lie down, they will watch over you;when you awake, they will speak to you.For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light,and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,to keep you from the evil woman,from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Do not lust in your heart for her beautyor let her captivate you with her eyes.For the levy of the prostitute is poverty,and the adulteress preys upon your very life.Can a man embrace fireand his clothes not be burned?Can a man walk on hot coalswithout scorching his feet?So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;no one who touches her will go unpunished.
Men do not despise the thiefif he steals to satisfy his hunger.Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold;he must give up all the wealth of his house.He who commits adultery lacks judgment;whoever does so destroys himself.Wounds and dishonor will befall him,and his reproach will never be wiped away.For jealousy enrages a husband,and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.He will not be appeased by any ransom,or persuaded by lavish gifts.My son, keep my wordsand treasure my commandments within you.Keep my commandments and live;guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.Tie them to your fingers;write them on the tablet of your heart.Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”and call understanding your kinsman,that they may keep you from the adulteress,from the stranger with seductive words.
For at the window of my houseI looked through the lattice.I saw among the simple,I noticed among the youths,a young man lacking judgment,crossing the street near her corner,strolling down the road to her house,at twilight, as the day was fadinginto the dark of the night.
Then a woman came out to meet him,with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.She is loud and defiant;her feet do not remain at home.Now in the street, now in the squares,she lurks at every corner.She seizes him and kisses him;she brazenly says to him:
“I have made my peace offerings;today I have paid my vows.So I came out to meet you;I sought you, and I have found you.I have decked my bed with coverings,with colored linen from Egypt.I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,with aloes, and with cinnamon.Come, let us take our fill of love till morning.Let us delight in loving caresses!For my husband is not at home;he has gone on a long journey.He took with him a bag of moneyand will not return till the moon is full.”
With her great persuasion she entices him;with her flattering lips she lures him.He follows her on impulse,like an ox going to the slaughter,like a deer bounding into a trap,until an arrow pierces his liver,like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.
Now, my sons, listen to me,and attend to the words of my mouth.Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;do not stray into her paths.For she has brought many down to death;her slain are many in number.Her house is the road to Sheol,descending to the chambers of death.