1My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding:
2That thou mayest preserve discretion,
3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,
4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
5Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol;
6So that she findeth not the level path of life:
7Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me,
8Remove thy way far from her,
9Lest thou give thine honor unto others,
10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength,
11And thou mourn at thy latter end,
12And say, How have I hated instruction,
13Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,
14I was well-nigh in all evil
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
16Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,
17Let them be for thyself alone,
18Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
19[As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe,
20For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,
21For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh; And he maketh level all his paths.
22His own iniquities shall take the wicked,
23He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.