< Proverbs 7 >
1 My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding [thy] kinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;
7 And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.
11 (She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, And lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, [And] with an impudent face she said unto him:
14 Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon.
21 With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
22 He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as [one in] fetters to the correction of the fool;
23 Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death. (Sheol )
