Proverbs 7
1 My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
Mi sone, kepe thou my wordis; and kepe myn heestis to thee. Sone, onoure thou the Lord, and thou schalt be `myyti; but outakun hym drede thou not an alien.
2 Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
Kepe thou myn heestis, and thou schalt lyue; and my lawe as the appil of thin iyen.
3 Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
Bynde thou it in thi fyngris; write thou it in the tablis of thin herte.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
Seie thou to wisdom, Thou art my sistir; and clepe thou prudence thi frendesse.
5 So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
That it kepe thee fro a straunge womman; and fro an alien womman, that makith hir wordis swete.
6 For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
For whi fro the wyndow of myn hous bi the latijs Y bihelde; and Y se litle children.
7 and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
I biholde a yong man coward,
8 who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
that passith bi the stretis, bisidis the corner; and he
9 He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
goith niy the weie of hir hous in derk tyme, whanne the dai drawith to niyt, in the derknessis and myst of the nyyt.
10 And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
And lo! a womman, maad redi with ournement of an hoore to disseyue soulis, meetith hym, and sche is a ianglere, and goynge about,
11 unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
and vnpacient of reste, and mai not stonde in the hous with hir feet;
12 now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
and now without forth, now in stretis, now bisidis corneris sche `aspieth.
13 And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
And sche takith, and kissith the yong man; and flaterith with wowynge cheer, and seith, Y ouyte sacrifices for heelthe;
14 “I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
to dai Y haue yolde my vowis.
15 Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.
Therfor Y yede out in to thi meetyng, and Y desiride to se thee; and Y haue founde thee.
16 I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
Y haue maad my bed with coordis, Y haue arayed with tapetis peyntid of Egipt;
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
Y haue bispreynt my bed with myrre, and aloes, and canel.
18 Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
Come thou, be we fillid with tetis, and vse we collyngis that ben coueitid; til the dai bigynne to be cleer.
19 For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
For myn hosebonde is not in his hows; he is goon a ful long weie.
20 He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
He took with hym a bagge of money; he schal turne ayen in to his hous in the dai of ful moone.
21 She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
Sche boonde hym with many wordis; and sche drow forth hym with flateryngis of lippis.
22 Immediately, he follows her, like an ox being led to the sacrifice, and like a lamb acting lasciviously, and not knowing that he is being drawn foolishly into chains,
Anoon he as an oxe led to slayn sacrifice sueth hir, and as a ioli lomb and vnkunnynge; and the fool woot not, that he is drawun to bondys,
23 until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul.
til an arowe perse his mawe. As if a brid hastith to the snare; and woot not, that it is don of the perel of his lijf.
24 Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
Now therfor, my sone, here thou me; and perseyue the wordis of my mouth.
25 Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
Lest thi soule be drawun awei in the weies of hir; nether be thou disseyued in the pathis of hir.
26 For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
For sche castide doun many woundid men; and alle strongeste men weren slayn of hir.
