| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight, |
| 2That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. | 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. |
| 3For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; | 3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, |
| 4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. | 4in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. |
| 6Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. | 6She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. |
| 7Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. | 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth. |
| 8Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, | 8Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, |
| 9Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; | 9lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; |
| 10Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; | 10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. |
| 11And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, | 11At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, |
| 12And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! | 12and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! |
| 13I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! | 13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. |
| 14I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” | 14I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.” |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. |
| 16Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? | 16Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. | 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. |
| 18Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. | 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth: |
| 19As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. | 19A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever. |
| 20For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? | 20Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger? |
| 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths. | 21For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths. |
| 22His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. | 22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. |
| 23He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. | 23He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. |
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