1
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My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,
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2
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That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
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3
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For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
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4
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But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
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5
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Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
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6
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They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
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7
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Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
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8
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Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
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9
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Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
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10
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Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house,
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11
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And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;
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12
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Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
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13
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And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
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14
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I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
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15
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Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
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16
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Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
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17
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Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
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18
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Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
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19
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Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.
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20
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Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
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21
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The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
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22
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His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
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23
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He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
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