Study Desk

My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely^[a] to my understanding^(a)

so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.^(b)

Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are^[b] smoother than oil,

in the end she's as bitter as wormwood^(c) and as sharp as a double-edged sword.^(d)

Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.^(e)

She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable.

So now, my sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth.^(f)

Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house.^(g)

Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house.

At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.^(h)

I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely^[c] to my mentors.

I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community."

Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.⁽ⁱ⁾

Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?^(j)

They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.

Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.^(k)

A loving doe, a graceful fawn— let her breasts always satisfy you;^(l) be lost in her love forever.

Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger?^(m)

For a man's ways are before the Lord 's eyes,⁽ⁿ⁾ and He considers all his paths.^(o)

A wicked man's iniquities entrap him;^(p) he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.^(q)

He will die because there is no discipline,^(r) and be lost because of his great stupidity.

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor^[a] or entered into an agreement with^[b] a stranger,^[c](a)

you have been trapped by the words of your lips^[d]— ensnared by the words of your mouth.

Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor's power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

Don't give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.^(b)

Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,^[e] like a bird from a fowler's trap.^[f](c)

Go to the ant,^(d) you slacker!^(e) Observe its ways and become wise.

Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.^(f)

How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,^(g)

and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.^(h)

A worthless person,⁽ⁱ⁾ a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,^(j)

winking^(k) his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

He always plots evil^(l) with perversity in his heart— he stirs up trouble.^(m)

Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly—beyond recovery.⁽ⁿ⁾

The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to Him:

arrogant eyes,^(o) a lying tongue,^(p) hands that shed innocent blood,^(q)

a heart that plots wicked schemes,^(r) feet eager to run to evil,^(s)

a lying witness who gives false testimony,^(t) and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.^(u)

My son, keep your father's command, and don't reject your mother's teaching.^(v)

Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.^(w)

When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,^(x) and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(y)

They will protect you from an evil woman,^[g] from the flattering^[h] tongue of a stranger.^(z)

Don't lust in your heart for her beauty^(aa) or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(ab)

For a prostitute's fee is only a loaf of bread,^[i] but an adulteress^[j] goes after a precious life.^(ac)

Can a man embrace fire^[k] and his clothes not be burned?

Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

So it is with the one who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.^(ad)

People don't despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(ae)

Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(af) he must give up all the wealth in his house.

The one who commits adultery^[l] lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.^(ag)

He will get a beating^[m] and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

For jealousy enrages a husband,^(ah) and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish gifts.