Dual Panel1MY SON, be attentive to my Wisdom [godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience], and incline your ear to my understanding [of what is becoming and prudent for you],
2That you may exercise proper discrimination {and} discretion and your lips may guard {and} keep knowledge {and} the wise answer [to temptation].
3For the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged {and} devouring sword.
5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).
6She loses sight of {and} walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them.
7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation],
9Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy,
10Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength {and} wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God]--
11And you groan {and} mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12And you say, How I hated instruction {and} discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted {and} consented to those who instructed me.
14[The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation {and} the community.
15Drink waters out of your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship], and fresh running waters out of your own well.
16Should your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets?
17[Confine yourself to your own wife] let your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you.
18Let your fountain [of human life] be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], and rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe [tender, gentle, attractive]--let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love.
20Why should you, my son, be infatuated with a loose woman, embrace the bosom of an outsider, {and} go astray?
21For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord, and He [Who would have us live soberly, chastely, and godly] carefully weighs all man's goings.
22His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.
23He will die for lack of discipline {and} instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray {and} be lost.