Poetry

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Warning Against Adultery

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
listen well to my words of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.

My son, pay attention to my wisdom so bright,
And listen to all my words of great insight,
They will help you to discretion maintain,
And knowledge your lips to preserve and sustain.

3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.

For the lips of an adulteress are so sweet they drip honey;
Her oil-like speech is so smooth when she needs the money,
But in the end she leaves you with the bitter taste of gall,
And like a double-edged sword she will cut you down small.

5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Her feet go down to death, and you'll die as a knave,
And her steps will lead you straight to the grave.
She gives no thought to her wicked way of life,
Blindly she goes her crooked way cutting like a knife.

7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,

In the light of this my sons, listen and learn,
Do not from my words of guidance ever turn,
Stay away from any path that to her goes near,
And from the door of her house always steer clear.


9 lest you give your best strength to others
and your years to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich another man's house.

If you refuse to listen and go your own way,
It will lead to you having hell to pay,
For you will give your best years to one who is cruel,
And sacrifice all you have worked for like a fool.
Strangers will get it all, and not your spouse,
And all your labor will enrich another man's house.

11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!

At the end of your life you will groan,
I have labored till exhausted, yet nothing's my own.
How I wish I had listened, and discipline not hated,
How stupid I was to spurn correction, and in pride be elated.

13 I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the whole assembly."

I would not to my teachers listen and obey,
For I wanted to live life in my own way.
Now I see the ruin they were trying to save me from,
And all the world can see I was stupid and dumb.

15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?

If you are thirsting for sex, just use your head;
Learn how to make love to your wife in your own bed.
Don't be an idiot, and go looking for satisfaction in the streets,
Keep your sex life private, filled with pleasurable treats.


17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Your sexual energy is yours alone;
Never use it to bring sorrow and a groan.
Keep it a blessing all of your life,
By restricting it to your own loving wife.
Your sexual pleasure will be greater in the long run,
When she knows that she is, for you, the only one.

19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.

You fell in love with this loving doe and graceful deer;
May her breasts give you satisfaction year after year,
And may you be captivated by her love forever,
Looking elsewhere for satisfaction, never.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?
21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.

Why let your life be captivated by lust for another,
And desire to go to bed with the wife of a brother.
It is being blind and stupid to walk such a path,
For God sees it all, and your begging for his wrath.

22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.
23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

Follow your lusts, and you become the wicked man in life's cast,
And the ensnaring cords of your sin will hold you fast.
Your lack of discipline will lead you to die in sorrow one day;
Knowing full well, it was your own folly that led you astray.

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