1
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My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight, |
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2
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that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. |
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3
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Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, |
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4
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in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. |
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5
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Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. |
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6
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She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. |
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7
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So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth. |
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8
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Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, |
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9
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lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; |
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10
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lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. |
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11
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At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, |
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12
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and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! |
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13
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I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. |
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14
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I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.” |
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15
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Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. |
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16
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Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? |
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17
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Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. |
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18
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May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth: |
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19
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A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever. |
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20
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Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger? |
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21
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For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths. |
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22
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The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. |
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23
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He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. |
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