1 Υἱέ, ἐμῇ σοφίᾳ πρόσεχε,
ἐμοῖς δὲ λόγοις παράβαλλε σὸν οὖς,
2 ἵνα φυλάξῃς ἔννοιαν ἀγαθήν·
αἴσθησιν δὲ ἐμῶν χειλέων ἐντέλλομαί σοι.
3 μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί·
μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης,
ἣ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα,
4 ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις
καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου.
5 τῆς γὰρ ἀφροσύνης οἱ πόδες κατάγουσιν
τοὺς χρωμένους αὐτῇ μετὰ θανάτου εἰς τὸν ᾅδην,
τὰ δὲ ἴχνη αὐτῆς οὐκ ἐρείδεται·
6 ὁδοὺς γὰρ ζωῆς οὐκ ἐπέρχεται,
σφαλεραὶ δὲ αἱ τροχιαὶ αὐτῆς καὶ οὐκ εὔγνωστοι.
7 νῦν οὖν, υἱέ, ἄκουέ μου
καὶ μὴ ἀκύρους ποιήσῃς ἐμοὺς λόγους·
8 μακρὰν ποίησον ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς σὴν ὁδόν,
μὴ ἐγγίσῃς πρὸς θύραις οἴκων αὐτῆς,
9 ἵνα μὴ πρόῃ ἄλλοις ζωήν σου
καὶ σὸν βίον ἀνελεήμοσιν,
10 ἵνα μὴ πλησθῶσιν ἀλλότριοι σῆς ἰσχύος,
οἱ δὲ σοὶ πόνοι εἰς οἴκους ἀλλοτρίων εἰσέλθωσιν,
11 καὶ μεταμεληθήσῃ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων,
ἡνίκα ἂν κατατριβῶσιν σάρκες σώματός σου,
12 καὶ ἐρεῖς Πῶς ἐμίσησα παιδείαν,
καὶ ἐλέγχους ἐξέκλινεν ἡ καρδία μου·
13 οὐκ ἤκουον φωνὴν παιδεύοντός με καὶ διδάσκοντός με
οὐδὲ παρέβαλλον τὸ οὖς μου·
14 παρ᾽ ὀλίγον ἐγενόμην ἐν παντὶ κακῷ
ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας καὶ συναγωγῆς.
15 πῖνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων
καὶ ἀπὸ σῶν φρεάτων πηγῆς.
16 μὴ ὑπερεκχείσθω σοι τὰ ὕδατα ἐκ τῆς σῆς πηγῆς,
εἰς δὲ σὰς πλατείας διαπορευέσθω τὰ σὰ ὕδατα·
17 ἔστω σοι μόνῳ ὑπάρχοντα,
καὶ μηδεὶς ἀλλότριος μετασχέτω σοι·
18 ἡ πηγή σου τοῦ ὕδατος ἔστω σοι ἰδία,
καὶ συνευφραίνου μετὰ γυναικὸς τῆς ἐκ νεότητός σου.
19 ἔλαφος φιλίας καὶ πῶλος σῶν χαρίτων ὁμιλείτω σοι,
ἡ δὲ ἰδία ἡγείσθω σου καὶ συνέστω σοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ
ἐν γὰρ τῇ ταύτης φιλίᾳ συμπεριφερόμενος πολλοστὸς ἔσῃ.
20 μὴ πολὺς ἴσθι πρὸς ἀλλοτρίαν
μηδὲ συνέχου ἀγκάλαις τῆς μὴ ἰδίας·
21 ἐνώπιον γάρ εἰσιν τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀφθαλμῶν ὁδοὶ ἀνδρός,
εἰς δὲ πάσας τὰς τροχιὰς αὐτοῦ σκοπεύει.
22 παρανομίαι ἄνδρα ἀγρεύουσιν,
σειραῖς δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγεται·
23 οὗτος τελευτᾷ μετὰ ἀπαιδεύτων,
ἐκ δὲ πλήθους τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βιότητος ἐξερρίφη καὶ
ἀπώλετο δι᾽ ἀφροσύνην.
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 ¶ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them . 7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; 11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 ¶ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 ¶ His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.