Common English Bible CEB
New Revised Standard NRS
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Bend your ear to what I know,
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My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
2 so you might remain discreet, and your lips might guard knowledge.
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so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.
3 The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey, and her tongue is smoother than oil,
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For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
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but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead to the grave.
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Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.
6 She doesn't stay on the way of life. Her paths wander, but she doesn't know it.
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She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 Now children, listen to me, and don't deviate from the words of my mouth.
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And now, my child, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay on a path that is far from her; don't approach the entrance to her house.
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Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house;
9 Otherwise, you will give your strength to others, your years to a cruel person.
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or you will give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless,
10 Otherwise, strangers will sap your strength, and your hard work will end up in a foreigner's house.
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and strangers will take their fill of your wealth, and your labors will go to the house of an alien;
11 You will groan at the end when your body and flesh are exhausted,
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and at the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, "How I hated instruction! How my heart despised correction!
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and you say, "Oh, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 I didn't listen to the voice of my instructor. I didn't obey my teacher.
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I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I'm on the brink of utter ruin in the assembled community."
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Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly."
15 Drink water from your own cistern, gushing water from your own well.
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Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains flood outside, streams of water in the public squares?
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Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
17 They are yours alone, not for you as well as strangers.
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Let them be for yourself alone, and not for sharing with strangers.
18 May your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
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Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts intoxicate you all the time; always be drunk on her love.
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a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love.
20 Why, my son, should you lose your senses with a mysterious woman and embrace the breasts of a foreign female?
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Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
21 The LORD's eyes watch over every person's path, observing all their ways.
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For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths.
22 The wicked will be caught by their own evil acts, grabbed by the ropes of their own sin.
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The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin.
23 Those without instruction will die, misled by their own stupidity.
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They die for lack of discipline, and because of their great folly they are lost.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.