Daily reading
Proverbs · V · 7–14
Proverbs 5:7–14 · NLT
XVIII · X · MMXXVI
Key verses · Proverbs 5:7–14 · NLT
8tay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! (NLT)
12You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
13Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?” (NLT)
Proverbs 5:7–14 · New Living Translation
7o now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say:
8Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house!
9If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.
10Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
11In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.
12You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
13Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?
14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.” (NLT)
A note on Scripture quoting
We’ve hit this translation’s public quoting limit for now, so this is a good time to pick up your own Bible and read the rest of the passage.
In short
The father’s advice here is blunt: stay away, and don’t even walk up to her door. He isn’t asking his sons to be strong in the moment. He’s asking them to keep their distance so the moment never comes. Then he counts the cost: honor, years of work, money, health, and other people enjoying what you built.
Verses 12 to 14 are the hardest part. The man at the end isn’t surprised. He had the warnings, the teachers, and the instructors. He just didn’t want the discipline. Wisdom is often a decision made early and far from the door, while listening is still cheap.
You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings! Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?” (NLT)
Proverbs 5:12–13
Try today
Pick one “door” you tend to drift toward (an app, a habit, a late-night scroll) and set one guardrail that keeps you farther from it, like moving the app off your home screen. Then think of one warning someone has given you lately and take it seriously in one small way today.