1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, 2That you may preserve discretion, And your lips ⚓may keep knowledge. 3⚓For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is⚓smoother than oil; 4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5Her feet go down to death, ⚓Her steps lay hold of hell. 6Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. 7Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, 9Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; 11And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, 12And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! 13I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” 15Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. 16Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? 17Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. 18Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with ⚓the wife of your youth. 19⚓Asa loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. 20For why should you, my son, be enraptured by ⚓an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? 21⚓For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths. 22⚓His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23⚓He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.