[5:1] My child, pay attention and listen to my wisdom and insight.
[5:2] Then you will know how to behave properly, and your words will show that you have knowledge.
[5:3] The lips of another man's wife may be as sweet as honey and her kisses as smooth as olive oil,
[5:4] but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain.
[5:5] She will take you down to the world of the dead; the road she walks is the road to death.
[5:6] She does not stay on the road to life; but wanders off, and does not realize what is happening.
[5:7] Now listen to me, sons, and never forget what I am saying.
[5:8] Keep away from such a woman! Don't even go near her door!
[5:9] If you do, others will gain the respect that you once had, and you will die young at the hands of merciless people.
[5:10] Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else.
[5:11] You will lie groaning on your deathbed, your flesh and muscles being eaten away,
[5:12] and you will say, “Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?
[5:13] I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them.
[5:14] And suddenly I found myself publicly disgraced.”
[5:15] Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone.
[5:16] Children that you have by other women will do you no good.
[5:17] Your children should grow up to help you, not strangers.
[5:18] So be happy with your wife and find your joy with the woman you married—
[5:19] pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love.
[5:20] Son, why should you give your love to another woman? Why should you prefer the charms of another man's wife?
[5:21] The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching.
[5:22] The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin.
[5:23] They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.