4:1Hear, ye sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding.
4:2For good learning I have given to you, My law forsake not.
4:3For, a son I have been to my father -- tender, And an only one before my mother.
4:4And he directeth me, and he saith to me: `Let thy heart retain my words, Keep my commands, and live.
4:5Get wisdom, get understanding, Do not forget, nor turn away From the sayings of my mouth.
4:6Forsake her not, and she doth preserve thee, Love her, and she doth keep thee.
4:7The first thing is wisdom -- get wisdom, And with all thy getting get understanding.
4:8Exalt her, and she doth lift thee up, She honoureth thee, when thou dost embrace her.
4:9She giveth to thy head a wreath of grace, A crown of beauty she doth give thee freely.
4:10Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And years of life are multiplied to thee.
4:11In a way of wisdom I have directed thee, I have caused thee to tread in paths of uprightness.
4:12In thy walking thy step is not straitened, And if thou runnest, thou stumblest not.
4:13Lay hold on instruction, do not desist, Keep her, for she is thy life.
4:14Into the path of the wicked enter not, And be not happy in a way of evil doers.
4:15Avoid it, pass not over into it, Turn aside from it, and pass on.
4:16For they sleep not if they do not evil, And their sleep hath been taken violently away, If they cause not some to stumble.
4:17For they have eaten bread of wickedness, And wine of violence they drink.
4:18And the path of the righteous is as a shining light, Going and brightening till the day is established,
4:19The way of the wicked is as darkness, They have not known at what they stumble.
4:20My son, to my words give attention, To my sayings incline thine ear,
4:21Let them not turn aside from thine eyes, Preserve them in the midst of thy heart.
4:22For life they are to those finding them, And to all their flesh healing.
4:23Above every charge keep thy heart, For out of it are the outgoings of life.
4:24Turn aside from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee,
4:25Thine eyes do look straightforward, And thine eyelids look straight before thee.
4:26Ponder thou the path of thy feet, And all thy ways are established.
4:27Incline not to the right or to the left, Turn aside thy foot from evil!
5:1My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
5:2To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
5:3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil is her mouth,
5:4And her latter end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword with mouths.
5:5Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.
5:6The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not.
5:7And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
5:8Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
5:9Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
5:10Lest strangers be filled with thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
5:11And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
5:12And hast said, `How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
5:13And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
5:14As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
5:15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
5:16Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
5:17Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
5:18Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
5:19A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
5:20And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
5:21For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
5:22His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
5:23He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
6:1My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,
6:2Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,
6:3Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,
6:4Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,
6:5Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6:6Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
6:7Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,
6:8She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.
6:9Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep?
6:10A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
6:11And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.
6:12A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking with perverseness of mouth,
6:13Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
6:14Frowardness is in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.
6:15Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken -- and no healing.
6:16These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven are abominations to His soul.
6:17Eyes high -- tongues false -- And hands shedding innocent blood --
6:18A heart devising thoughts of vanity -- Feet hasting to run to evil --
6:19A false witness who doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
6:20Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.
6:21Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck.
6:22In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked -- it talketh with thee.
6:23For a lamp is the command, And the law a light, And a way of life are reproofs of instruction,
6:24To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
6:25Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.
6:26For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.
6:27Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?
6:28Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
6:29So is he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.
6:30They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,
6:31And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.
6:32He who committeth adultery with a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.
6:33A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away,
6:34For jealousy is the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.
6:35He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!
7:1My son! keep my sayings, And my commands lay up with thee.
7:2Keep my commands, and live, And my law as the pupil of thine eye.
7:3Bind them on thy fingers, Write them on the tablet of thy heart.
7:4Say to wisdom, `My sister Thou art.' And cry to understanding, `Kinswoman!'
7:5To preserve thee from a strange woman, From a stranger who hath made smooth her sayings.
7:6For, at a window of my house, Through my casement I have looked out,
7:7And I do see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
7:8Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way to her house he doth step,
7:9In the twilight -- in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
7:10And, lo, a woman to meet him -- (A harlot's dress, and watchful of heart,
7:11Noisy she is, and stubborn, In her house her feet rest not.
7:12Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And near every corner she lieth in wait) --
7:13And she laid hold on him, and kissed him, She hath hardened her face, and saith to him,
7:14`Sacrifices of peace-offerings are by me, To-day I have completed my vows.
7:15Therefore I have come forth to meet thee, To seek earnestly thy face, and I find thee.
7:16With ornamental coverings I decked my couch, Carved works -- cotton of Egypt.
7:17I sprinkled my bed -- myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18Come, we are filled with loves till the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
7:19For the man is not in his house, He hath gone on a long journey.
7:20A bag of money he hath taken in his hand, At the day of the new moon he cometh to his house.'
7:21She turneth him aside with the abundance of her speech, With the flattery of her lips she forceth him.
7:22He is going after her straightway, As an ox unto the slaughter he cometh, And as a fetter unto the chastisement of a fool,
7:23Till an arrow doth split his liver, As a bird hath hastened unto a snare, And hath not known that it is for its life.
7:24And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And give attention to sayings of my mouth.
7:25Let not thy heart turn unto her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
7:26For many are the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty are all her slain ones.
7:27The ways of Sheol -- her house, Going down unto inner chambers of death!