Proverbs 7
1 [My] son, keep my words, and hide with you my commandments. [My] son, honor the Lord, and you shall be strong; and fear none but him:
My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
2 keep my commandments, and you shall live; and [keep] my words as the pupils of [your] eyes.
Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
3 And bind them on your fingers, and write [them] on the table of your heart.
Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
4 Say that wisdom is your sister, and gain prudence as an acquaintance for yourself;
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
5 that she may keep you from the strange and wicked woman, if she should assail you with flattering words.
So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
6 For she looks from a window out of her house into the streets, at one whom she may see of the senseless ones, a young man void of understanding,
For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
7 passing by the corner in the passages near her house,
and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
8 and speaking, in the dark of the evening,
who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
9 when there happens [to be] the stillness of night and of darkness:
He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
10 and the woman meets him having the appearance of a harlot, that causes the hearts of young men to flutter.
And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
11 And she is fickle, and debauched, and her feet abide not at home.
unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
12 For at one time she wanders without, and at [another] time she lies in wait in the streets, at every corner.
now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
13 Then she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said to him,
And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
14 I have a peace-offering; today I pay my vows:
“I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
15 therefore I came forth to meet you, desiring your face; [and] I have found you.
Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my bed with sheets, and I have covered it with double tapestry from Egypt.
I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon.
I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
18 Come, and let us enjoy love until the morning; come, and let us embrace in love.
Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
19 For my husband is not at home, but is gone on a long journey,
For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
20 having taken in his hand a bundle of money: after many days he will return to his house.
He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
21 So with much converse she prevailed on him to go astray, and with the snares of her lips forced him from [the right path].
She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
22 And he followed her, being gently led on, and [that] as an ox is led to the slaughter, and as a dog to bonds, or as a hart shot in the liver with an arrow:
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,
23 and he hastens as a bird into a snare, not knowing that he is running for [his] life.
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.
24 Now then, [my] son, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways:
Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
26 for she has wounded and cast down many, and those whom she has slain are innumerable.
For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
