15 Drink water from your own cistern,

and running water from your own well.

16 Why should your springs flow in the streets,

your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone,

never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn—

may her breasts satisfy you always;

may you be captivated*5:19 Or be led astray; also in verse 20 by her love forever.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress,

or embrace the bosom of a stranger?*5:20 Or a foreign woman or another man’s wife