1My son, give heed unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my prudence:
2that thou mayest regard good counsel, and that thy lips may keep nurture.
3For the lips of an harlot are a dropping honeycomb, and her throat is softer than oil.
4But at the last she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two edged sword.
5Her feet go down unto death, and her steps pierce thorow unto hell.
6She regardeth not the path of life, so unsteadfast are her ways, that thou canst not know them.
7Hear me therefore, (O my son) and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8Keep thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
9That thou give not thine honour unto another, and thy years to the cruel.
10That other men be not filled with thy goods, and that thy labours come not in a strange house.
11Yea that thou mourn not at the last, (when thou hast spent thy body and goods)
12and then say: Alas, why hated I nurture? why did my heart despise correction?
13Wherefore was not I obedient unto the voice of my teachers, and hearken not unto them that informed me?
14I am come almost into all misfortune, in the middest of the multitude and congregation.
15Drink of the water of thine own well, and of the rivers that run out of thine own springs.
16Let thy wells flow out abroad, that there may be rivers of water in the streets:
17but let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18Let thy well be blessed, and be glad with the wife of thy youth.
19Loving is the hind, and friendly is the Roo: let her breasts alway satisfy thee, and hold thee ever content with her love.
20My son, why wilt thou have pleasure in an harlot, and embrace the bosom of another woman?
21For every man's ways are open in the sight of the LORD, and he pondereth all their goings.
22The wickedness of the ungodly shall catch himself, and with the snares of his own sins shall he be trapped.
23Because he would not be reformed, he shall die: and for his great foolishness he shall be destroyed.