Proverbs 5:1-15 (2nd Tuesday of Lent)

Proverbs 5:1-15 (2nd Tuesday of Lent)

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 loose 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 take heed to 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 an alien;  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 was at the point of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”