25 Let thine eyes look straight forward, 26 Ponder* the path of thy feet, 27 Turn not to right or left: 1 My CHAPTER V. son, attend to my wisdom, To my understanding incline thine ear. 2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, And thy lips keep knowledge. 3 For the harlot's lips distil honey, 5 Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheôl. 6 Lest thou ponder the path of life, Her ways are uncertain, thou wilt not know them. *Weigh-i. e., the consequences. C 7 And now, ye children, hearken to me, And turn not away from the words of my 8 Remove far from her thy way, And approach not the door of her house: 9 Lest thou give thy honour to strangers, And thy years to a cruel one: mouth. 10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; And thy labours be in the house of the stranger; 11 And thou mourn at the last, When thy flesh and thy remains are consuming, 12 And thou wilt say, How have I hated discipline, And my heart despised reproof; 13 And I listened not to the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to my instructors. 14 I was almost in every mischief In the midst of the congregation and assembly. 15 Drink water from thy own cistern, 16 Let thy fountains pour out abroad, 17 They shall be for thee only, And not for strangers with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed : And rejoice in the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the lovely hind and the favourite roe; Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why, my son, wilt thou be ravished with a harlot, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, And he pondereth all his goings. 22 The wicked man shall be ensnared by his own iniquities, And be held in the cords of his own sin. 23 He shall die without correction; And in his great folly shall go astray.* CHAPTER VI. 1 My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbour, If thou strike thy hands for a stranger, 2 Thou art ensnared by the words of thy mouth, In the words of thy mouth thou art taken. * See the same root, ver. 19. 3 Do this now, my son, and be delivered, When thou comest into the hand of thy neighbour; Go, haste away, and be urgent with thy neighbour. 4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, Nor slumber to thine eyelids. 5 Rescue thyself as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise : 7 Who hath no leader, overseer, nor ruler, 8 Who prepareth in summer her meat, Who gathereth in harvest her food. 9 How long, O sluggard, wilt thou lie down? When wilt thou rise from thy sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumbering, A little folding of the hands for sleep. 11 So thy poverty shall come as a highwayman, And thy want as an armed man. 12 A man of Belial, a man of iniquity, Increaseth in perverseness of mouth. 13 Winking with his eyes, talking with his feet, Teaching with his fingers. 14 Perverseness is in his heart, he ploweth up evil At all times; he will promote contentions. 15 Therefore his ruin shall come suddenly; In a moment he shall be broken without help. 16 These six things Jehovah hateth : And seven are the abomination of his soul. 17 Haughty eyes, a deceitful tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart contriving devices of iniquity, Feet that swiftly run into mischief, 19 A false witness will pour out lies, And will sow contentions among brethren. 20 Keep, my son, the commands of thy father, 22 When thou walkest, it shall lead thee; When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. 23 For the command is a lamp; and the law is light; And the reproofs of discipline are the way to life : 24 To guard thee from the wicked woman, From the soft tongue of the harlot. |