2That you may heed counsel and that your lips may keep knowledge.

3For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her words are smoother than oil;

4But the end of her life is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5Her feet cause men to go down to death; her steps take her to Sheol.

6She does not tread upon the land of the living, her paths are devious, and are unknown.

7Hear me now therefore, O you children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8Remove your way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house;

9Lest you give your strength to others, and your years to the cruel;

10Lest strangers be filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the house of strangers;

11And you have remorse in your old age, when the flesh of your body is consumed,

12And you say, Why did I hate instruction, and my heart despise reproof,

13And why have I not obeyed the voice of my teacher, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me?

14I was in almost all kinds of evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15Drink water out of your own well, and running water from your own spring.

16Let your water overflow into your streets, let it be disbursed abroad.

17Let it be for yourself alone, let not strangers be partners with you.

18Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19Let her be like a loving hind, and pleasant mountain roe; learn her ways always, and be mindful of her love.

20My son, be not misled by a strange woman, neither embrace the bosom of a strange woman.

21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and all his paths lie open in his presence.

22The wicked shall be caught by his own iniquities, and he will be bound with the cords of his sins.

23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.