Daily Bread

⁷ Now then, my sons, listen^(G) to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸ Keep to a path far from her,^(H)
    do not go near the door of her house,
⁹ lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity^[a] to one who is cruel,
¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.^(I)
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!^(J)
13 I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble^(K)
    in the assembly of God’s people.”^(L)

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain^(M) be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.^(N)
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer^(O)—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹ For your ways are in full view^(P) of the Lord,
    and he examines^(Q) all your paths.^(R)
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;^(S)
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.^(T)
23 For lack of discipline they will die,^(U)
    led astray by their own great folly.^(V)