Chapter 5
2: so that you may preserve discretion and your lips may guard knowledge. Take no notice of a loose-living woman,
3: for the lips of the adulteress drip with honey, her palate is more unctuous than oil,
4: but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5: Her feet go down to death, Sheol the goal of her steps;
6: far from following the path of life, her course is uncertain and she does not know it.
7: And now, son, listen to me, never deviate from what I say:
8: set your course as far from her as possible, go nowhere near the door of her house,
9: or she will hand over your honour to others, the years of your life to a man without pity,
10: and strangers will batten on your property, and your produce go to the house of a stranger,
11: and, at your ending, your body and flesh having been consumed, you will groan
12: and exclaim, 'Alas, I hated discipline, my heart spurned all correction;
13: I would not attend to the voice of my masters, I would not listen to those who tried to teach me.
14: Now I have come to nearly every kind of misery, in the assembly and in the community.'
15: Drink the water from your own storage-well, fresh water from your own spring.
16: Even if your fountains overflow outside, your streams of water in the public squares:
17: let them be for you alone, and not for strangers with you.
18: May your fountain-head be blessed! Find joy with the wife you married in your youth,
19: fair as a hind, graceful as a fawn: hers the breasts that ever fill you with delight, hers the love that ever holds you captive.
20: Why be seduced, my son, by someone else's wife, and fondle the breast of a woman who belongs to another?
21: For the eyes of Yahweh observe human ways, and survey all human paths.
22: The wicked is snared in his own misdeeds, is caught in the meshes of his own sin.
23: For want of discipline, he dies, led astray by his own excessive folly.
Chapter 6
2: if you have committed yourself with your lips, if through words of yours you have been entrapped,
3: do this, my child, to extricate yourself -- since you have put yourself in the power of your neighbour: go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbour,
4: give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no rest,
5: break free like a gazelle from the trap, like a bird from the fowler's clutches.
6: Idler, go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise:
7: no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master,
8: yet all through the summer she gets her food ready, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.
9: How long do you intend to lie there, idler? When are you going to rise from your sleep?
10: A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back,
11: and poverty comes like a vagrant and, like a beggar, dearth.
12: A scoundrel, a vicious man, he goes with a leer on his lips,
13: winking his eye, shuffling his foot, beckoning with his finger.
14: Trickery in his heart, always scheming evil, he sows dissension.
15: Disaster will overtake him sharply for this, suddenly, irretrievably, he will be broken.
16: There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that he abhors:
17: a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18: a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil,
19: a false witness who lies with every breath, and one who sows dissension among brothers.
20: Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.
21: Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.
22: While you are active, they will guide you, when you fall asleep, they will watch over you, when you wake up, they willconverse with you.
23: For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,
24: preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs to another.
25: Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes;
26: a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.
27: Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight?
28: Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet?
29: Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbour's wife: no one who touches her will get off unpunished.
30: People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger;
31: yet even he, if caught, will have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.
32: But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction.
33: All he will get is blows and contempt, and dishonour never to be blotted out.
34: For jealousy inflames the husband who will show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;
35: he will not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he will not be placated.
Chapter 7
1: My child, keep my words, and treasure my precepts,
2: keep my precepts and you will live, keep my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3: Bind these to your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4: Say to Wisdom, 'You are my sister!' Call Understanding your relation,
5: to save yourself from the woman that belongs to another, from the stranger, with her seductive words.
6: While I was at the window of my house, I was looking out through the lattice
7: and I saw, among the callow youths, I noticed among the lads, one boy who had no sense.
8: Going along the lane, near the corner where she lives, he reaches the path to her house,
9: at twilight when day is declining, at dead of night and in the dark.
10: And look, a woman is coming to meet him, dressed like a prostitute, false of heart.
11: She is loud and brazen; her feet cannot rest at home.
12: Once in the street, once in the square, she lurks at every corner.
13: She catches hold of him, she kisses him, the bold-faced creature says to him,
14: 'I had to offer a communion sacrifice, I have discharged my vows today;
15: that is why I came out to meet you, to look for you, and now I have found you.
16: I have spread coverlets over my divan, embroidered stuff, Egyptian material,
17: I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, with aloes and cinnamon.
18: Come on, we'll make love as much as we like, till morning. Let us enjoy the delights of love!
19: For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a very long journey,
20: taking his moneybags with him; he will not be back till the moon is full.'
21: With her persistent coaxing she overcomes him, lures him on with her wheedling patter.
22: Forthwith he follows her, like an ox on its way to the slaughterhouse, like a madman on his way to the stocks,
23: until an arrow pierces him to the liver, like the bird that dashes into the net without realising that its life is at stake.
24: And now, son, listen to me, pay attention to the words I have to say:
25: do not let your heart stray into her ways, or wander into her paths;
26: she has done so many to death, and the strongest have all been her victims.
27: Her house is the way to Sheol, the descent to the courts of death.
1: Is not Wisdom calling? Is not Understanding raising her voice?
2: On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossways, she takes her stand;
3: by the gates, at the entrance to the city, on the access-roads, she cries out,
4: 'I am calling to you, all people, my words are addressed to all humanity.
5: Simpletons, learn how to behave, fools, come to your senses.
6: Listen, I have something important to tell you, when I speak, my words are right.
7: My mouth proclaims the truth, for evil is abhorrent to my lips.
8: All the words from my mouth are upright, nothing false there, nothing crooked,
9: everything plain, if you can understand, straight, if you have acquired knowledge.
10: Accept my discipline rather than silver, and knowledge of me in preference to finest gold.
11: For Wisdom is more precious than jewels, and nothing else is so worthy of desire.
12: 'I, Wisdom, share house with Discretion, I am mistress of the art of thought.
13: (Fear of Yahveh means hatred of evil.) I hate pride and arrogance, wicked behaviour and a lying mouth.
14: To me belong good advice and prudence, I am perception: power is mine!
15: By me monarchs rule and princes decree what is right;
16: by me rulers govern, so do nobles, the lawful authorities.
17: I love those who love me; whoever searches eagerly for me finds me.
18: With me are riches and honour, lasting wealth and saving justice.
19: The fruit I give is better than gold, even the finest, the return I make is better than pure silver.
20: I walk in the way of uprightness in the path of justice,
21: to endow my friends with my wealth and to fill their treasuries.
22: 'Yahweh created me, first- fruits of his fashioning, before the oldest of his works.
23: From everlasting, I was firmly set, from the beginning, before the earth came into being.
24: The deep was not, when I was born, nor were the springs with their abounding waters.
25: Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth;
26: before he had made the earth, the countryside, and the first elements of the world.
27: When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there, when he drew a circle on the surface of the deep,
28: when he thickened the clouds above, when the sources of the deep began to swell,
29: when he assigned the sea its boundaries -- and the waters will not encroach on the shore -- when he traced the foundations of the earth,
30: I was beside the master craftsman, delighting him day after day, ever at play in his presence,
31: at play everywhere on his earth, delighting to be with the children of men.
32: 'And now, my children, listen to me. Happy are those who keep my ways.
33: Listen to instruction and become wise, do not reject it.
34: Blessed, whoever listens to me, who day after day keeps watch at my gates to guard my portals.
35: For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains the favour of Yahweh;
36: but whoever misses me harms himself, all who hate me are in love with death.'
2: keep my precepts and you will live, keep my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3: Bind these to your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4: Say to Wisdom, 'You are my sister!' Call Understanding your relation,
5: to save yourself from the woman that belongs to another, from the stranger, with her seductive words.
6: While I was at the window of my house, I was looking out through the lattice
7: and I saw, among the callow youths, I noticed among the lads, one boy who had no sense.
8: Going along the lane, near the corner where she lives, he reaches the path to her house,
9: at twilight when day is declining, at dead of night and in the dark.
10: And look, a woman is coming to meet him, dressed like a prostitute, false of heart.
11: She is loud and brazen; her feet cannot rest at home.
12: Once in the street, once in the square, she lurks at every corner.
13: She catches hold of him, she kisses him, the bold-faced creature says to him,
14: 'I had to offer a communion sacrifice, I have discharged my vows today;
15: that is why I came out to meet you, to look for you, and now I have found you.
16: I have spread coverlets over my divan, embroidered stuff, Egyptian material,
17: I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, with aloes and cinnamon.
18: Come on, we'll make love as much as we like, till morning. Let us enjoy the delights of love!
19: For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a very long journey,
20: taking his moneybags with him; he will not be back till the moon is full.'
21: With her persistent coaxing she overcomes him, lures him on with her wheedling patter.
22: Forthwith he follows her, like an ox on its way to the slaughterhouse, like a madman on his way to the stocks,
23: until an arrow pierces him to the liver, like the bird that dashes into the net without realising that its life is at stake.
24: And now, son, listen to me, pay attention to the words I have to say:
25: do not let your heart stray into her ways, or wander into her paths;
26: she has done so many to death, and the strongest have all been her victims.
27: Her house is the way to Sheol, the descent to the courts of death.
Chapter 8
2: On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossways, she takes her stand;
3: by the gates, at the entrance to the city, on the access-roads, she cries out,
4: 'I am calling to you, all people, my words are addressed to all humanity.
5: Simpletons, learn how to behave, fools, come to your senses.
6: Listen, I have something important to tell you, when I speak, my words are right.
7: My mouth proclaims the truth, for evil is abhorrent to my lips.
8: All the words from my mouth are upright, nothing false there, nothing crooked,
9: everything plain, if you can understand, straight, if you have acquired knowledge.
10: Accept my discipline rather than silver, and knowledge of me in preference to finest gold.
11: For Wisdom is more precious than jewels, and nothing else is so worthy of desire.
12: 'I, Wisdom, share house with Discretion, I am mistress of the art of thought.
13: (Fear of Yahveh means hatred of evil.) I hate pride and arrogance, wicked behaviour and a lying mouth.
14: To me belong good advice and prudence, I am perception: power is mine!
15: By me monarchs rule and princes decree what is right;
16: by me rulers govern, so do nobles, the lawful authorities.
17: I love those who love me; whoever searches eagerly for me finds me.
18: With me are riches and honour, lasting wealth and saving justice.
19: The fruit I give is better than gold, even the finest, the return I make is better than pure silver.
20: I walk in the way of uprightness in the path of justice,
21: to endow my friends with my wealth and to fill their treasuries.
22: 'Yahweh created me, first- fruits of his fashioning, before the oldest of his works.
23: From everlasting, I was firmly set, from the beginning, before the earth came into being.
24: The deep was not, when I was born, nor were the springs with their abounding waters.
25: Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth;
26: before he had made the earth, the countryside, and the first elements of the world.
27: When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there, when he drew a circle on the surface of the deep,
28: when he thickened the clouds above, when the sources of the deep began to swell,
29: when he assigned the sea its boundaries -- and the waters will not encroach on the shore -- when he traced the foundations of the earth,
30: I was beside the master craftsman, delighting him day after day, ever at play in his presence,
31: at play everywhere on his earth, delighting to be with the children of men.
32: 'And now, my children, listen to me. Happy are those who keep my ways.
33: Listen to instruction and become wise, do not reject it.
34: Blessed, whoever listens to me, who day after day keeps watch at my gates to guard my portals.
35: For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains the favour of Yahweh;
36: but whoever misses me harms himself, all who hate me are in love with death.'
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