Proverbs 5 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Warning Against Adultery

Pro 5:1

Pro 5:1My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,

Pro 5:2

Pro 5:2that you may keep discretion,
and your lips may guard knowledge.

Pro 5:3

Pro 5:3For the lips of a forbidden[fn] woman drip honey,
and her speech[fn] is smoother than oil,

Pro 5:4

Pro 5:4but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.

Pro 5:5

Pro 5:5Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to[fn] Sheol;

Pro 5:6

Pro 5:6she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.

Pro 5:7

Pro 5:7And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Pro 5:8

Pro 5:8Keep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,

Pro 5:9

Pro 5:9lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,

Pro 5:10

Pro 5:10lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

Pro 5:11

Pro 5:11and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,

Pro 5:12

Pro 5:12and you say, “How I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!

Pro 5:13

Pro 5:13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.

Pro 5:14

Pro 5:14I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”

Pro 5:15

Pro 5:15Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.

Pro 5:16

Pro 5:16Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?

Pro 5:17

Pro 5:17Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.

Pro 5:18

Pro 5:18Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

Pro 5:19

Pro 5:19a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated[fn] always in her love.

Pro 5:20

Pro 5:20Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[fn]

Pro 5:21

Pro 5:21For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,
and he ponders[fn] all his paths.

Pro 5:22

Pro 5:22The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

Pro 5:23

Pro 5:23He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(5:3)

Hebrew strange; also verse 20

(5:3)

Hebrew palate

(5:5)

Hebrew lay hold of

(5:19)

Hebrew be led astray; also verse 20

(5:20)

Hebrew a foreign woman

(5:21)

Or makes level

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

Proverbs Chapter 5 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Proverbs 5 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Warning Against Adultery

ESV Footnotes

Proverbs Chapter 5 — Additional Translations:

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