Proverbs 7
1 My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
My son! keep my sayings, And my commands lay up with thee.
2 Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
Keep my commands, and live, And my law as the pupil of thine eye.
3 Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
Bind them on thy fingers, Write them on the tablet of thy heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
Say to wisdom, 'My sister Thou [art].' And cry to understanding, 'Kinswoman!'
5 So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
To preserve thee from a strange woman, From a stranger who hath made smooth her sayings.
6 For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
For, at a window of my house, Through my casement I have looked out,
7 and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
And I do see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
8 who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way [to] her house he doth step,
9 He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
In the twilight — in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
10 And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
And, lo, a woman to meet him — (A harlot's dress, and watchful of heart,
11 unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
Noisy she [is], and stubborn, In her house her feet rest not.
12 now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And near every corner she lieth in wait) —
13 And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
And she laid hold on him, and kissed him, She hath hardened her face, and saith to him,
14 “I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
'Sacrifices of peace-offerings [are] by me, To-day I have completed my vows.
15 Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.
Therefore I have come forth to meet thee, To seek earnestly thy face, and I find thee.
16 I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
[With] ornamental coverings I decked my couch, Carved works — cotton of Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
I sprinkled my bed — myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
Come, we are filled [with] loves till the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
19 For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
For the man is not in his house, He hath gone on a long journey.
20 He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
A bag of money he hath taken in his hand, At the day of the new moon he cometh to his house.'
21 She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
She turneth him aside with the abundance of her speech, With the flattery of her lips she forceth him.
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,
He is going after her straightway, As an ox unto the slaughter he cometh, And as a fetter unto the chastisement of a fool,
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.
Till an arrow doth split his liver, As a bird hath hastened unto a snare, And hath not known that it [is] for its life.
24 Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And give attention to sayings of my mouth.
25 Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
Let not thy heart turn unto her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
26 For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty [are] all her slain ones.
