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[1] MY son, attend to my wisdom and incline your ear to my understanding,
[2] That you may heed counsel and that your lips may keep knowledge.
[3] For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her words are smoother than oil;
[4] But the end of her life is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
[5] Her feet cause men to go down to death; her steps take her to Sheol.
[6] She does not tread upon the land of the living, her paths are devious, and are unknown.
[7] Hear me now therefore, O you children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
[8] Remove your way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house;
[9] Lest you give your strength to others, and your years to the cruel;
[10] Lest strangers be filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the house of strangers;
[11] And you have remorse in your old age, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
[12] And you say, Why did I hate instruction, and my heart despise reproof,
[13] And why have I not obeyed the voice of my teacher, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me?
[14] I was in almost all kinds of evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly
[15] Drink water out of your own well, and running water from your own spring.
[16] Let your water overflow into your streets, let it be disbursed abroad.
[17] Let it be for yourself alone, let not strangers be partners with you.
[18] Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice in the wife of your youth.
[19] Let her be like a loving hind, and pleasant mountain roe; learn her ways always, and be mindful of her love.
[20] My son, be not misled by a strange woman, neither embrace the bosom of a strange woman.
[21] For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and all his paths lie open in his presence.
[22] The wicked shall be caught by his own iniquities, and he will be bound with the cords of his sins.
[23] He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray
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