American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
My son, keep the commandment of thy father,And forsake not the {Or, teaching}law of thy mother:
Bind them continually upon thy heart;Tie them about thy neck.
When thou walkest, it shall lead thee;When thou {Hebrew: liest down.}sleepest, it shall watch over thee;And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For {Or, their commandment}the commandment is a lamp; and {Or, their teaching}the law is light;And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
To keep thee from the evil woman,From the flattery of the foreigner's tongue.
My son, attend unto my wisdom;Incline thine ear to my understanding:
That thou mayest preserve discretion,And that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,And her mouth is smoother than oil:
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;Her steps take hold on Sheol;
{Or, Lest thou find the level &c. Or, Lest thou weigh carefully the path of life}So that she findeth not the level path of life:Her ways are unstable, and {Or, thou canest not know them}she knoweth it not.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,And depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her,And come not nigh the door of her house;
Lest thou give thine honor unto others,And thy years unto the cruel;
Lest strangers be filled with thy {Or, wealth}strength,And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
And thou {Or, groan}mourn at thy latter end,When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction,And my heart despised reproof;
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I was well-nigh in all evilIn the midst of the assembly and congregation.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,And running waters out of thine own well.
{Or, Let}Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,And streams of water in the streets?
Let them be for thyself alone,And not for strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed;And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;And {Hebrew: go astray.}be thou ravished always with her love.
For why shouldest thou, my son, {Hebrew: go astray.}be ravished with a strange woman,And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;And he {Or, weigheth carefully}maketh level all his paths.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked,And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
He shall die for lack of instruction;And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
My son, keep my words,And lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments and live;And my {Or, teaching}law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers;Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;And call understanding thy {Or, familiar friend}kinswoman:
That they may keep thee from the strange woman,From the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words.
For at the window of my houseI looked forth through my lattice;
And I beheld among the simple ones,I discerned among the youths,A young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner;And he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening of the day,In the {Hebrew: pupil (of the eye).}middle of the night and in the darkness.
And, behold, there met him a womanWith the attire of a harlot, and {Or, close Hebrew: guarded.}wily of heart.
(She is {Or, turbulent}clamorous and wilful;Her feet abide not in her house:
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,And lieth in wait at every corner.)
So she caught him, and kissed him, {Hebrew: She hardened her face, and said.}And with an impudent face she said unto him:
Sacrifices of peace-offerings {Or, were due from me}are with me;This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee,Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have spread my couch with {Or, cushion}carpets of tapestry,With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
I have {Or, sprinkled}perfumed my bedWith myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;Let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the man is not at home;He is gone a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him;He will come home at the full moon.
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
He goeth after her {Hebrew: suddenly.}straightway,As an ox goeth to the slaughter,Or as one in {The Hebrew is obsure.}fetters to the correction of the fool;
Till an arrow strike through his liver;As a bird hasteth to the snare,And knoweth not that it is for his life.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,And attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thy heart decline to her ways;Go not astray in her paths.
For she hath cast down many wounded:Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
Her house is the way to Sheol,Going down to the chambers of death.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words,And lay up my commandments with thee;
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom,And apply thy heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou cry after discernment,And lift up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seek her as silver,And search for her as for hid treasures:
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah,And find the knowledge of God.
For Jehovah giveth wisdom;Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; {Or, And a shield for &c.}He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
{Or, That they may keep}That he may guard the paths of justice, {Or, Yea he preserveth}And preserve the way of his saints.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice,And equity, yea, every good path.
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart,And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
Discretion shall watch over thee;Understanding shall keep thee:
To deliver thee from the way of {Or, the evil man}evil,From the men that speak perverse things;
Who forsake the paths of uprightness,To walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil,And delight in the perverseness of {Or, the evil man}evil;
Who are crooked in their ways,And wayward in their paths:
To deliver thee from the strange woman,Even from the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words;
That forsaketh the {Or, guide}friend of her youth,And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
For {Or, she sinketh down unto death, which is her house}her house inclineth unto death,And her paths unto {Or, the shades Hebrew: Rephaim.}the dead;
None that go unto her return again,Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,And keep the paths of the righteous.
For the upright shall dwell in the {Or, earth}land,And the perfect shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the {Or, earth}land,And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
My son, attend unto my wisdom;Incline thine ear to my understanding:
That thou mayest preserve discretion,And that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,And her mouth is smoother than oil:
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;Her steps take hold on Sheol;
{Or, Lest thou find the level &c. Or, Lest thou weigh carefully the path of life}So that she findeth not the level path of life:Her ways are unstable, and {Or, thou canest not know them}she knoweth it not.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,And depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her,And come not nigh the door of her house;
Lest thou give thine honor unto others,And thy years unto the cruel;
Lest strangers be filled with thy {Or, wealth}strength,And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
And thou {Or, groan}mourn at thy latter end,When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction,And my heart despised reproof;
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I was well-nigh in all evilIn the midst of the assembly and congregation.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,And running waters out of thine own well.
{Or, Let}Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,And streams of water in the streets?
Let them be for thyself alone,And not for strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed;And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;And {Hebrew: go astray.}be thou ravished always with her love.
For why shouldest thou, my son, {Hebrew: go astray.}be ravished with a strange woman,And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;And he {Or, weigheth carefully}maketh level all his paths.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked,And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
He shall die for lack of instruction;And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee:Bind them about thy neck;Write them upon the tablet of thy heart:
Bind them upon thy fingers;Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart:The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The opening of thy words giveth light;It giveth understanding unto the simple.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness {Or, overcame See chapter 12:35 (Greek).}apprehended it not.
נ NUN.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,And light unto my path.
Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.
To deliver thee from the strange woman,Even from the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words;