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 law 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 table of thine 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 understanding [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 [which] 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 through my casement,
One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, 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, in the black and dark night:
at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
10 And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil 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] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
12 Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
13 So 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 payed 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, diligently to seek 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 coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of 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 bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
19 For the goodman [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 a bag of money with him, [and] will come home at the day appointed.
He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
[So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
[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 a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his 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 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
25 Let not thine 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: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her.
She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
