Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New International Version NIV
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,
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My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
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that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
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For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
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but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
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Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
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She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
7 Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
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Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
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Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
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lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel,
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
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lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another.
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;
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At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
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You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
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I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
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And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
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Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
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Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
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Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
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May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.
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A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
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Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
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For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
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The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
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For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
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Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.