Proverbs 5

Proverbs · Chapter 5

Proverbs 5:20

1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.19Let 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.20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
and to why?וְלָ֤מָּהve-LA-mahH4100
what

מָא (ma) 1) what, whatever 1a) what? 1b) whatever, what, whatsoever 1c) how?, why?, wherefore? (with prefixes)

will you go astrayתִשְׁגֶּ֣הtish-GEHH7686
to wander

שָׁגָה (sha.gah) 1) to go astray, stray, err 1a)(Qal) 1a1) to err, stray 1a2) to swerve, meander, reel, roll, be intoxicated, err (in drunkenness) 1a3) to go astray (morally) 1a4) to commit sin of ignorance or inadvertence, err (ignorantly) 1b) (Hiphil) 1b1) to lead astray 1b2) to lead astray, mislead (mentally) 1b3) to lead astray (morally)

O son myבְנִ֣יve-NIH1121A
son: child

בֵּן (ben) : child/son

with a strange [woman]בְזָרָ֑הve-za-RAHH2114A
be a stranger

זוּר (zur) 1) to be strange, be a stranger 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to become estranged 1a2) strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy (participle) 1a3) strange woman, prostitute, harlot (meton) 1b) (Niphal) to be estranged 1c) (Hophal) to be a stranger, be one alienated

so may you embrace?וּ֝תְחַבֵּ֗קu-te-cha-BEKH2263
to embrace

חָבַק (cha.vaq) 1) to embrace, clasp 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to embrace 1a2) to fold one's hands in idleness (fig.) 1b) (Piel) to embrace

[the] bosom ofחֵ֣קchekH2436G
bosom: embrace

חֵיק (cheq) : embrace/chest bosom, hollow, bottom, midst

a foreign [woman]נָכְרִיָּֽה׃na-khe-ri-YAHH5237
foreign

נׇכְרִי (nokh.ri) 1) foreign, alien 1a) foreign 1b) foreigner (subst) 1c) foreign woman, harlot 1d) unknown, unfamiliar (fig.)

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.