4:1¤ Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend, that you may know prudence.

4:2I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.

4:3For I also was my father's son, tender, and as an only son in the sight of my mother:

4:4And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.

4:5Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

4:6Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.

4:7The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.

4:8Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.

4:9She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.

4:10Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.

4:11I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:

4:12Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.

4:13Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.

4:14Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.

4:15Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.

4:16For they sleep not, except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.

4:17They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.

4:18But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards, and increaseth even to perfect day.

4:19The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.

4:20My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.

4:21Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:

4:22For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.

4:23With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.

4:24Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.

4:25Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.

4:26Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.

4:27Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.

5:1¤ My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,

5:2That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.

5:3For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.

5:4But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.

5:5Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.

5:6They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.

5:7Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

5:8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.

5:9Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.

5:10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house,

5:11And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;

5:12Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,

5:13And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?

5:14I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.

5:15Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:

5:16Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.

5:17Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.

5:18Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:

5:19Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.

5:20Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?

5:21The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.

5:22His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.

5:23He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.

6:1¤ My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger,

6:2Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy own words.

6:3Do, therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste, stir up thy friend:

6:4Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber.

6:5Deliver thyself as a doe from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6:6Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom:

6:7Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain,

6:8Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

6:9How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

6:10Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep:

6:11And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.

6:12A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth,

6:13He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with the finger.

6:14With a wicked heart he deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth discord.

6:15To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy.

6:16Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth:

6:17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

6:18A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief,

6:19A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren.

6:20My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.

6:21Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck.

6:22When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee, and when thou awakest, talk with them.

6:23Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

6:24That they may keep thee from the evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the stranger.

6:25Let not thy heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks:

6:26For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman catcheth the precious soul of a man.

6:27Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn?

6:28Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt?

6:29So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife, shall not be clean when he shall touch her.

6:30The fault is not so great when a man hath stolen: for he stealeth to fill his hungry soul:

6:31And if he be taken, he shall restore sevenfold, and shall give up all the substance of his house.

6:32But he that is an adulterer, for the folly of his heart shall destroy his own soul:

6:33He gathereth to himself shame and dishonour, and his reproach shall not be blotted out:

6:34Because the jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in the day of revenge,

6:35Nor will he yield to any man's prayers, nor will he accept for satisfaction ever so many gifts.

7:1¤ My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son,

7:2Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye:

7:3Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart.

7:4Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,

7:5That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words.

7:6For I looked out of the window of my house through the lattice,

7:7And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man,

7:8Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the way of her house,

7:9In the dark when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of the night.

7:10And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot's attire, prepared to deceive souls: talkative and wandering,

7:11Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home,

7:12Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners.

7:13And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent face, flattereth, saying:

7:14I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows.

7:15Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I have found thee.

7:16I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry, brought from Egypt.

7:17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

7:18Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear.

7:19For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.

7:20He took with him a bag of money: he will return home the day of the full moon.

7:21She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the flattery of her lips.

7:22Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds,

7:23Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.

7:24Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth.

7:25Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with her paths.

7:26For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been slain by her.

7:27Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers of death.