So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, and'she knoweth it not.

Now therefore, my'sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house;

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors be in the house of an alien,

Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel;

And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding:

For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths.

And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof;

Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil:

I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.

He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee.

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets?

Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol;

For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well.