Proverbs 5:1-14

1My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

2that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

3For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech 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 follow the path to Sheol;

6she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

7And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8Keep 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 merciless,

10lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

11and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

12and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

14I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation."