The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom; listen very closely to the way I see it.
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My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
2 Then you'll acquire a taste for good sense; what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.
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that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.
3 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, her soft words are oh so smooth.
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For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 But it won't be long before she's gravel in your mouth, a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart.
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but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 She's dancing down the primrose path to Death; she's headed straight for Hell and taking you with her.
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Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;
6 She hasn't a clue about Real Life, about who she is or where she's going.
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she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 So, my friend, listen closely; don't treat my words casually.
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And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood.
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Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
9 You don't want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted.
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lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,
10 Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you?
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lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 You don't want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones,
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and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me? Why did I reject a disciplined life?
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and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 Why didn't I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously?
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I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 My life is ruined! I haven't one blessed thing to show for my life!" Never Take Love for Granted
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I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation."
15 Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel, draw water from your own spring-fed well"?
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Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
16 It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.
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Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
17 Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers.
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Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.
18 Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
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Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose - don't ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted!
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a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
20 Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore? for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?
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Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
21 Mark well that God doesn't miss a move you make; he's aware of every step you take.
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For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.
22 The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you'll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark.
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The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.
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He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.