New King James Version NKJV
King James Version KJV
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,
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My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.
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That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
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For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
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But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell.
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Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest you ponder her path of life-- Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.
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Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
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Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,
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Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one;
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Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
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Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,
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And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say: "How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction!
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And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
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And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation."
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I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
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Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?
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Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.
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Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
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Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.
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Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
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And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths.
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For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
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His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
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He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.