My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,
lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
Comment: I remember the story of a man giving advice to his son, as the son was going out on his first date. The son said ‘Don’t you trust me, Dad?’ To which the father said “yes/no – because I have learnt that I can’t trust myself.’ I don’t take it that means that the father had necessarily done things wrong but sexual temptation is real! In our modern world both males and females need to read this proverb and understand the wisdom which it clarifies! I don’t know what Solomon would have have written if they had TV in his days!
I guess that what is called the woman’s voice (speech) and calling out here is often silent and refers to temptations in the hearts of both sexes. Certainly it seems as if later in his life Solomon didn’t take his own advice. God made the sex urge strong in most people to keep human life going but He also gave very good advice about marriage and faithfulness!
Prayer: Keep Your people strongly faithful to Your ways against the strong pull of many temptations in the world these days, please Father God.
As I read it! 