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My son, attend to my wisdom, And apply thine ear to my words;
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That thou mayest keep good understanding, And the discretion of my lips gives thee a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
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For honey drops from the lips of a harlot, Who for a season pleases thy palate:
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But afterward thou wilt find her more bitter than gall, And sharper than a two-edged sword.
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For the feet of folly lead Those who deal with her down to the grave with death; And her steps are not established.
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For she goes not upon the paths of life; But her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
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Now then, my son, hear me, And make not my words of none effect.
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Remove thy way far from her; Draw not near to the doors of her house:
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Lest thou give away thy life to others, And thy substance to the merciless:
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Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors come into the houses of strangers;
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And thou repent at last, When the flesh of thy body is consumed,
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And thou shalt say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart avoided reproofs!
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I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, Neither did I apply mine ear.
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I was almost in all evil In the midst of the congregation and assembly.
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Drink waters out of thine own vessels, And out of thine own springing wells.
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Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, But let thy waters go into thy streets.
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Let them be only thine own, And let no stranger partake with thee.
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Let thy fountain of water be truly thine own; And rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
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Let thy loving hart and thy graceful colt company with thee, And let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; For ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased.
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Be not intimate with a strange woman, Neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not thine own.
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For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, And he looks on all his paths.
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Iniquities ensnare a man, And every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
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Such a man dies with the uninstructed; And he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, And has perished through folly.