Proverbs 7
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my teaching, as the apple of thine eye.
Obey my commands, and [as a result you will] live [a good life]. Consider the things that I teach you [to be very precious]; guard them, [just] like you protect your eyes.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
Tie my commands around your fingers [in order that they will remind you to obey them]. Always keep them in mind [MET].
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call intelligence [thy] kinswoman:
[Love] wisdom [like you love] your sister. Understand what is wise, [and let that be as dear to you as] members of your family.
5 that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words.
If you are wise and if you understand what is wise [PRS], you will not [sleep with] an immoral woman; you will not listen to a woman who tries to entice you [to sleep with her] by what she says.
6 For at the window of my house, I looked forth through my lattice,
One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
7 and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the sons, a young man void of understanding,
I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness.
at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
10 And behold, there met him a woman in the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart.
Suddenly the woman came out to see/meet him. She was dressed (seductively/like a prostitute), wanting to persuade him to sleep with her.
11 She is clamorous and unmanageable; her feet abide not in her house:
She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
12 now without, now in the broadways, — and she lieth in wait at every corner.
She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
13 And she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
[When she saw that young man], she put her arms around him and kissed him. Then without being a bit ashamed, she said,
14 I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows:
“I have [some meat that is left over from] a sacrifice that I made today [to maintain fellowship with Yahweh]; I have fulfilled/done what I promised him that I would do.
15 therefore came I forth to meet thee, to seek earnestly thy face, and I have found thee.
And now I have come out to meet/see you. I was searching for you, and [now] I have found you!
16 I have decked my bed with tapestry coverlets of variegated linen from Egypt;
I have put on my bed sheets/bedspreads that were made from [very fine] linen [that were imported] {[people brought]} from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us revel in love until the morning, let us delight ourselves with loves.
Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
19 For the husband is not at home, he is gone a long journey;
My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
20 he hath taken the money-bag with him, he will come home on the day of the full moon.
He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
21 With her much enticement she beguiled him; with the smoothness of her lips she constrained him.
[So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
22 He went after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, and as stocks [serve] for the correction of the fool;
[And] he went with her immediately, like an ox that was going to where it would be slaughtered, or like a deer (OR, a fool) that is stepping into a noose/trap,
23 till an arrow strike through his liver: as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for its life.
where it will remain/stay until someone shoots an arrow into its liver [and kills it]. [He was] like a bird that flew into a trap. He did not know that (it would cost him his life/he would die as a result).
24 And now, ye sons, hearken unto me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
25 Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths:
Do not allow anything to arouse/persuade you to go with an immoral woman like that. Do not go where she goes.
26 for she hath cast down many wounded, and all slain by her were strong.
She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
