z[See ver. 15 above]
bh[See ver. 6 above]
ce[See ver. 14 above]

Proverbs 5

Warning Against Adultery

1 aMy son, be attentive to my wisdom;
bincline your ear to my understanding,
2that you may keep cdiscretion,
and your lips may dguard knowledge.
3For the lips of ea forbidden
Hebrew strange; also verse 20
woman drip honey,
and her speech
Hebrew palate
is hsmoother than oil,
4but in the end she is ibitter as jwormwood,
ksharp as la two-edged sword.
5Her feet mgo down to death;
her steps follow the path to
Hebrew lay hold of
Sheol;
6she odoes not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And pnow, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8Keep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your qlabors go to the house of a foreigner,
11and at the end of your life you rgroan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12and you say, sHow I hated discipline,
and my heart tdespised reproof!
13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 uI am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”
15 Drink vwater from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16Should your wsprings be scattered abroad,
streams of water xin the streets?
17 yLet them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18Let your zfountain be blessed,
and aarejoice in abthe wife of your youth,
19a lovely acdeer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts adfill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated
Hebrew  be led astray; also verse 20
always in her love.
20Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with afa forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of agan adulteress?
Hebrew  a foreign woman

21For aia man’s ways are ajbefore the eyes of the Lord,
and he akponders
Or makes level
all his paths.
22The aminiquities of the wicked anensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 aoHe dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is apled astray.

Proverbs 6

Practical Warnings

1 My son, if you have put up aqsecurity for your neighbor,
have argiven your pledge for a stranger,
2if you are assnared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten,
Or humble yourself
and auplead urgently with your neighbor.
4 avGive your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Hebrew lacks  of the hunter

axlike a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 ayGo to azthe ant, O basluggard;
consider her ways, and bbbe wise.
7 bcWithout having any chief,
bdofficer, or ruler,
8she prepares her bread bein summer
and bfgathers her food in harvest.
9 bgHow long will you lie there, bhO sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 biA little sleep, a little slumber,
bja little bkfolding of the hands to rest,
11 bland poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
12 bmA worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with bncrooked speech,
13 bowinks with his eyes, signals
Hebrew scrapes
with his feet,
points with his finger,
14with bqperverted heart brdevises evil,
continually bssowing discord;
15therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
btin a moment he will be broken bubeyond healing.
16 There are bvsix things that the Lord hates,
bwseven that are an abomination to him:
17 bxhaughty eyes, bya lying tongue,
and bzhands that shed innocent blood,
18 caa heart that devises wicked plans,
cbfeet that make haste to run to evil,
19 cca false witness who cdbreathes out lies,
and one who cesows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

20 cfMy son, keep your father’s commandment,
cgand forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21 chBind them on your heart always;
citie them around your neck.
22 cjWhen you walk, they
Hebrew it; three times in this verse
will lead you;
clwhen you lie down, they will cmwatch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23For the commandment is cna lamp and the teaching a light,
and the coreproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24to preserve you from the evil woman,
Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields  from the wife of a neighbor

from the smooth tongue of cqthe adulteress.
Hebrew  the foreign woman

25 csDo not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her cteyelashes;
26for cuthe price of a prostitute is only cva loaf of bread,
Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate)  for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread

but a married woman
Hebrew  a man’s wife
cyhunts down a precious life.
27Can a man carry czfire next to his dachest
and his clothes not be burned?
28Or can one dbwalk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her dcwill go unpunished.
30People do not despise a thief if he steals
to ddsatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31but deif he is caught, he will pay dfsevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34For dgjealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when dhhe takes revenge.
35He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Proverbs 7

Warning Against the Adulteress

1 diMy son, keep my words
and djtreasure up my commandments with you;
2 dkkeep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as dlthe apple of your eye;
3 dmbind them on your fingers;
dnwrite them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
5to keep you from dothe forbidden
Hebrew strange
woman,
from dqthe adulteress
Hebrew  the foreign woman
with her smooth words.
6 For at dsthe window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7and I have seen among dtthe simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man dulacking sense,
8passing along the street dvnear her corner,
taking the road to her house
9in dwthe twilight, in the evening,
at dxthe time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, the woman meets him,
dydressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
Hebrew guarded in heart

11She is ealoud and ebwayward;
echer feet do not stay at home;
12now in the street, now in the market,
and edat every corner she eelies in wait.
13She seizes him and kisses him,
and with efbold face she says to him,
14“I had to egoffer sacrifices,
Hebrew peace offerings

and today I have eipaid my vows;
15so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with ejcoverings,
colored linens from ekEgyptian linen;
17I have perfumed my bed with elmyrrh,
aloes, and emcinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19For enmy husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
20he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with eoher smooth talk she compels him.
22All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew  as an anklet for the discipline of a fool

23till an arrow pierces its liver;
as eqa bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 And ernow, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are esa mighty throng.
27Her house is etthe way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.
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