| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding |
| 2that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. | 2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. |
| 3For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, | 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, |
| 4but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. | 4in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. |
| 6she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. | 6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable. |
| 7And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth. |
| 8Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, | 8Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house. |
| 9lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, | 9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; |
| 10lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, | 10strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house. |
| 11and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, | 11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, |
| 12and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! | 12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. |
| 13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. | 13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors. |
| 14I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.” | 14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. |
| 16Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? | 16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. | 17They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers. |
| 18Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, | 18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. |
| 19a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. | 19A loving doe, a graceful fawn-- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever. |
| 20Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? | 20Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger? |
| 21For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths. | 21For a man's ways are before the LORD's eyes, and He considers all his paths. |
| 22The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. | 22A wicked man's iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. |
| 23He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray. | 23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. |
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