05:001

My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding

05:002

That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge

05:003

For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil

05:004

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword

05:005

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on the nether-world

05:006

Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not

05:007

Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth

05:008

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house

05:009

Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel

05:010

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien

05:011

And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed

05:012

And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof

05:013

Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me

05:014

I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

05:015

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well

05:016

Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets

05:017

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee

05:018

Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth

05:019

A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always

05:020

Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien

05:021

For the ways of man are before the eyes of HaShem, and He maketh even all his paths

05:022

His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin

05:023

He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel