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My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
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that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
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For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
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But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
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Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
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She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
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Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
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Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
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lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
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lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
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You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
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and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
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neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
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I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
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Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
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Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
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Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
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Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
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A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
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For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
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For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths.
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The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
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He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.