| New King James Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, | 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding |
| 2That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. | 2so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard 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 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 lay hold of hell. | 5Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. |
| 6Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. | 6She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't 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 don't turn away from the words of my mouth. |
| 8Remove 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 cruel one; | 9Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; |
| 10Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, 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 you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, | 11At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, |
| 12And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! | 12and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. |
| 13I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! | 13I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors. |
| 14I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” | 14I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community." |
| 15Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. | 15Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. |
| 16Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? | 16Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17Let them be only your own, 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 with the wife of your youth. | 18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure 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-- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in 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, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast 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 LORD's eyes, and He considers all his paths. |
| 22His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. | 22A wicked man's iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. |
| 23He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. | 23He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity. |
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