Avoiding Immorality 1My sonne, geue hede vnto my wysdome, & bowe thine eare vnto my prudece: 2yt thou mayest regarde good councell, and that thy lippes maye kepe nurtoure. 3For the lippes of an harlot are a droppinge hony combe, and hir throte is softer then oyle. 4But at ye last she is as bitter as wormwod, and as sharpe as a two edged swerde. 5Hir fete go downe vnto death, and hir steppes pearse thorow vnto hell. 6She regardeth not the path of life, so vnstedfast are hir wayes, that thou canst not knowe them. 7Heare me therfore (o my sonne) and departe not fro the wordes of my mouth. 8Kepe thy waye farre from her, and come not nye ye dores of hir house. 9That thou geue not thine honor vnto another, and thy yeares to the cruell. 10That other men be not fylled with thy goodes, & that thy labours come not in a straunge house. 11Yee that thou mourne not at the last (when thou hast spent thy body and goodes) 12and then saye: Alas, why hated I nurtoure? why dyd my hert despyse correccion? 13Wherfore was not I obedient vnto the voyce of my teachers, & herkened not vnto them that infourmed me? 14I am come almost in to all mysfortune, in the myddest of the multitude and congregacion. 15Drinke of the water of thine owne well, and of the ryuers that runne out of thine owne spriges. 16Let yi welles flowe out a brode, that there maye be ryuers of water in the stretes. 17But let them be only thine owne, & not straungers with the. 18Let thy well be blessed, and be glad with the wife of thy youth. 19Louynge is the hynde, and frendly is the Roo: let her brestes alwaye satisfie the, and holde the euer content with hir loue. 20My sonne, why wilt thou haue pleasure in an harlot, and embrace the bosome of another woma? 21For euery mas wayes are open in the sight of the LORDE, and he podereth all their goinges. 22The wickednesses of the vngodly shal catch himself, and with the snares of his owne synnes shal he be trapped. 23Because he wolde not be refourmed, he shal dye: and for his greate foolishnesse he shal be destroyed. |
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