1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

1 Fili mi, attende ad sapientiam meam,
et prudentiæ meæ inclina aurem tuam:

2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

2 ut custodias cogitationes, et disciplinam labia tua conservent.
Ne attendas fallaciæ mulieris;

3 ¶ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

3 favus enim distillans labia meretricis,
et nitidius oleo guttur ejus:

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

4 novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium,
et acuta quasi gladius biceps.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

5 Pedes ejus descendunt in mortem,
et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant.

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

6 Per semitam vitæ non ambulant;
vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

7 Nunc ergo fili mi, audi me,
et ne recedas a verbis oris mei.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

8 Longe fac ab ea viam tuam,
et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus.

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

9 Ne des alienis honorem tuum,
et annos tuos crudeli:

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

10 ne forte impleantur extranei viribus tuis,
et labores tui sint in domo aliena,

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

11 et gemas in novissimis,
quando consumpseris carnes tuas et corpus tuum,
et dicas:

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

12 Cur detestatus sum disciplinam,
et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum,

13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

13 nec audivi vocem docentium me,
et magistris non inclinavi aurem meam?

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

14 pene fui in omni malo,
in medio ecclesiæ et synagogæ.

15 ¶ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

15 Bibe aquam de cisterna tua,
et fluenta putei tui;

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

16 deriventur fontes tui foras,
et in plateis aquas tuas divide.

17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

17 Habeto eas solus,
nec sint alieni participes tui.

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

18 Sit vena tua benedicta,
et lætare cum muliere adolescentiæ tuæ.

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.

19 Cerva carissima, et gratissimus hinnulus:
ubera ejus inebrient te in omni tempore;
in amore ejus delectare jugiter.

20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

20 Quare seduceris, fili mi, ab aliena,
et foveris in sinu alterius?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.

21 Respicit Dominus vias hominis,
et omnes gressus ejus considerat.

22 ¶ His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

22 Iniquitates suas capiunt impium,
et funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur.

23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

23 Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam,
et in multitudine stultitiæ suæ decipietur.