1 E taku tama, tahuri ki oki whakaaro nui, kia anga tou taringa ki toku matauranga:
2 Kia u ai koe ki te ngarahu pai, kia mau ai te matauranga i ou ngutu.
3 Ko nga ngutu hoki o te wahine ke, kei te maturuturunga iho o te honikoma, ngawari iho tona mangai i te hinu.
4 He kawa rawa hoki tona mutunga i te taru kawa; he koi, ano he hoari matarua.
5 Ko ona waewae e heke ana ki te mate, mau pu te reinga i ona takahanga;
6 Heoi kahore i kitea e ia te ara totika ki te ora: he kotiti ke ona ara, a kahore ia i te matau.
7 Na reira, e aku tamariki, whakarongo mai ki ahau, kei mahue hoki nga kupu a toku mangai.
8 Kia matara tou ara i a ia, kaua hoki e tata ki te tatau o tona whare;
9 Kei hoatu tou honore ki nga tangata ke, ou tau ki te hunga nanakia:
10 Kei makona nga tangata ke i tou kaha, kei riro ou mauiui ki te whare o te tangata ke;
11 A ka tangi koe i tou whakamutunga, ina poto ou kikokiko me tou tinana.
12 A ka mea, Katae toku kino ki te ako; katae te mauiui o toku ngakau ki te tohutohu!
13 Kihai hoki ahau i whakarongo ki te reo o oku kaiwhakaako, kihai toku taringa i anga ki te hunga e tohutohu ana i ahau.
14 Wahi iti kei nga kino katoa ahau i waenganui o te whakaminenga, o te huihui.
15 Inumia he wai i roto i tau ake rua, me nga wai rere ano i roto i tau ake poka.
16 Kia tohatoha noa atu koia au puna wai, nga awa wai i nga huarahi?
17 Waiho ena mau anake, kauaka ma koutou tahi ko nga tangata ke.
18 Kia manaakitia tau puna wai: kia koa ano koe ki te wahine o tou taitamarikitanga.
19 Kia rite ia ki taua mea ahuareka, ki te hata, ki te mea ataahua ki te anaterope; kia makona koe i ona u i nga wa katoa, kia matenuitia tonutia e koe tona aroha.
20 He aha oti koe, e taku tama, ka matenui ai ki te wahine ke, i awhi ai i te uma o te wahine ke?
21 Kei mua hoki i nga kanohi o Ihowa nga ara o te tangata, a e meinga ana e ia kia papatairite ona ara katoa.
22 Ko ona kino ano hei hopu i te tangata kino, hei taura ona hara e mau ai ia.
23 Ka mate ia, he mea kihai i whakaakona, ka pohehe i te nui o tona wairangi.
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom;
Incline thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion,
And that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
Her steps take hold on Sheol;
6 So that she findeth not the level path of life:
Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.
7 Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,
And depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her,
And come not nigh the door of her house;
9 Lest thou give thine honor unto others,
And thy years unto the cruel;
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength,
And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
11 And thou mourn at thy latter end,
When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction,
And my heart despised reproof;
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was well-nigh in all evil
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
And running waters out of thine own well.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,
And streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for thyself alone,
And not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed;
And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
19 As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,
Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;
And be thou ravished always with her love.
20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;
And he maketh level all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked,
And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction;
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.