Avoid Promiscuity

¹Listen to me, my son,

for I know what I’m talking about.

Listen carefully to my advice

²so that wisdom and discernment will enter your heart,

and then the words you speak will express what you’ve learned.

³Remember this:

The lips of a seductress seem sweet like honey,

and her smooth words are like music in your ears.

⁴But I promise you this:

In the end all you’ll be left with is a bitter conscience.

For the sting of your sin will pierce your soul like a sword.

⁵She will ruin your life, drag you down to death,

and lead you straight to hell.

⁶She has prevented many from considering the paths of life.

Yes, she will take you with her where you don’t want to go,

sliding down a slippery road

and not even realizing where the two of you will end up!

⁷Listen to me, young men,

and don’t forget this one thing I’m telling you—

run away from her as fast as you can!

⁸Don’t even go near the door of her house

unless you want to fall into her seduction.

⁹In disgrace you will relinquish your honor to another,

and all your remaining years will be squandered—

given over to the cruel one.

¹⁰Why would you let strangers take away your strength[#5:10 Or “wealth.” This could also refer to spiritual strength and wealth.]

while the labors of your house go to someone else?

¹¹For when you grow old you will groan in anguish and shame[#5:11 The Hebrew word translated here as “groan” is also used for the roar of a lion or the ocean’s roar.]

as sexually transmitted diseases consume your body.

¹²And then finally you’ll admit that you were wrong and say,

“If only I had listened to wisdom’s voice

and not stubbornly demanded my own way,

because my heart hated to be told what to do!

¹³Why didn’t I take seriously the warning of my wise counselors?

Why was I so stupid to think that I could get away with it?

¹⁴Now I’m totally disgraced and my life is ruined!

I’m paying the price—

for the people of the congregation are now my judges.”

Sex Reserved for Marriage

¹⁵My son, share your love with your wife alone.

Drink from her well of pleasure and from no other.

¹⁶Why would you have sex with a stranger

or with anyone other than her?

¹⁷Reserve this pleasure for you and her alone and do not share it with another.[#5:17 Because of the sudden change in the Hebrew text to the masculine gender (“stranger” or “another”), there is an inference that men having sex with men is forbidden, as well as sex with a woman who is not your wife.]

¹⁸Your sex life will be blessed[#5:18 The Hebrew phrase used here includes the word fountain , which is an obvious metaphor for the sex act. The root word for fountain can also refer to the eyes. It may be a poetic subtlety that your eyes should only be on your wife, not on the nakedness of another. See v. 19.]

as you take joy and pleasure in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹Let her breasts be your satisfaction,[#5:19 The Hebrew includes a picturesque metaphor of the wife being like a “friendly deer and a favored filly.”]

and let her embrace intoxicate you at all times.

Be continually delighted and ravished with her love!

²⁰My son, why would you be exhilarated by an adulteress—

by embracing a woman who is not yours?

²¹For God sees everything you do and his eyes are wide open

as he observes every single habit you have.

²²Beware that your sins don’t overtake you

and that the scars of your own conscience don’t

become the ropes that tie you up.

²³Those who choose wickedness die for lack of self-control,

for their foolish ways lead them astray,

carrying them away as hostages—

kidnapped captives robbed of destiny .