My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,

That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.

For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.

But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.

They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.

Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.

Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,

And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;

Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,

And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?

I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.

Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:

Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.

Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.

Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:

Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.

Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?

The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.

His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.

He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger,

Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy own words.

Do, therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste, stir up thy friend:

Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber.

Deliver thyself as a doe from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom:

Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain,

Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep:

And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.

A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth,

He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with the finger.

With a wicked heart he deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth discord.

To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy.

Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth:

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief,

A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren.

My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.

Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck.

When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee, and when thou awakest, talk with them.

Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

That they may keep thee from the evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the stranger.

Let not thy heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks:

For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman catcheth the precious soul of a man.

Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn?

Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt?

So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife, shall not be clean when he shall touch her.

The fault is not so great when a man hath stolen: for he stealeth to fill his hungry soul:

And if he be taken, he shall restore sevenfold, and shall give up all the substance of his house.

But he that is an adulterer, for the folly of his heart shall destroy his own soul:

He gathereth to himself shame and dishonour, and his reproach shall not be blotted out:

Because the jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in the day of revenge,

Nor will he yield to any man’s prayers, nor will he accept for satisfaction ever so many gifts.

My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son,

Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye:

Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart.

Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,

That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words.

For I looked out of the window of my house through the lattice,

And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man,

Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the way of her house,

In the dark when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of the night.

And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot’s attire, prepared to deceive souls: talkative and wandering,

Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home,

Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners.

And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent face, flattereth, saying:

I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows.

Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I have found thee.

I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry, brought from Egypt.

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear.

For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.

He took with him a bag of money: he will return home the day of the full moon.

She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the flattery of her lips.

Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds,

Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.

Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth.

Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with her paths.

For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been slain by her.

Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers of death.

Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?

Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths,

Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying:

O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.

O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.

Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things.

My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.

All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in them.

They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge.

Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.

For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.

The fear of the Lord hateth evil; I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.

Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.

By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.

By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.

I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me.

With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.

For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.

I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,

That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.

I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made.

The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.

The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth:

He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:

When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:

When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth;

I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;

Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.

Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.

He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.