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My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
1 Lend your ear to my understanding,
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That you may 2 preserve discretion,
And your lips a may keep knowledge.
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b For the lips of 3 an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is c smoother than oil;
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But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
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Her feet go down to death,
d Her steps lay hold of 4 hell.
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Lest you ponder her path of life -
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them.
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Therefore hear me now, my children,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
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Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
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Lest you give your 5 honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
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Lest aliens be filled with your 6 wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
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And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
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And say:
"How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
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I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
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I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation."
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Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
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Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
7 Streams of water in the streets?
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Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
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Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with e the wife of your youth.
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f As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be 8 enraptured with her love.
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For why should you, my son, be enraptured by g an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
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h For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He 9 ponders all his paths.
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i His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
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j He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.