| Good News Translation (GNT) |
New International Version (NIV) |
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1 My child, pay attention and listen to my wisdom and insight.
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1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight,
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2 Then you will know how to behave properly, and your words will show that you have knowledge.
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2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
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3 The lips of another man's wife may be as sweet as honey and her kisses as smooth as olive oil,
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3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
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4 but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain.
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4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
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5 She will take you down to the world of the dead; the road she walks is the road to death.
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5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
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6 She does not stay on the road to life; but wanders off, and does not realize what is happening.
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6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.
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7 Now listen to me, sons, and never forget what I am saying.
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7 Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.
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8 Keep away from such a woman! Don't even go near her door!
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8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
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9 If you do, others will gain the respect that you once had, and you will die young at the hands of merciless people.
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9 lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel,
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10 Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else.
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10 lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house.
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11 You will lie groaning on your deathbed, your flesh and muscles being eaten away,
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11 At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
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12 and you will say, "Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?
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12 You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!
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13 I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them.
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13 I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors.
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14 And suddenly I found myself publicly disgraced."
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14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."
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15 Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone.
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15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
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16 Children that you have by other women will do you no good.
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16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
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17 Your children should grow up to help you, not strangers.
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17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
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18 So be happy with your wife and find your joy with the woman you married -
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18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
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19 pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love.
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19 A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.
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20 Son, why should you give your love to another woman? Why should you prefer the charms of another man's wife?
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20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?
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21 The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching.
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21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.
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22 The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin.
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22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.
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23 They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.
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23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
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| Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. (The Good News Translation - The Holy Bible Online) |
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |
