Proverbs 7
1 My son, observe my sayings, and my commandments must thou treasure up with thee.
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 Observe my commandments, and live: and my teaching as the apple of thy eyes.
Kepe thou myn heestis, and thou schalt lyue; and my lawe as the appil of thin iyen.
3 Bind them around thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart.
Bynde thou it in thi fyngris; write thou it in the tablis of thin herte.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Seie thou to wisdom, Thou art my sistir; and clepe thou prudence thi frendesse.
5 That they may keep thee from an adulterous woman, from an alien that useth flattering speeches.
That it kepe thee fro a straunge womman; and fro an alien womman, that makith hir wordis swete.
6 For through the window of my house, through my lattice did I [once] look out,
For whi fro the wyndow of myn hous bi the latijs Y bihelde; and Y se litle children.
7 And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a lad void of sense;
I biholde a yong man coward,
8 He was passing through the market-place near her corner; and he stepped along on the way to her house,
that passith bi the stretis, bisidis the corner; and he
9 In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the depth of the night and when it was dark:
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 came to meet him with the attire of a harlot, and obdurate of heart.
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 (She is noisy and ungovernable; in her house her feet never rest;
and vnpacient of reste, and mai not stonde in the hous with hir feet;
12 At one time she is in the street, at another in the open places, and near every corner doth she lurk, )
and now without forth, now in stretis, now bisidis corneris sche `aspieth.
13 And she caught hold of him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said to him,
And sche takith, and kissith the yong man; and flaterith with wowynge cheer, and seith, Y ouyte sacrifices for heelthe;
14 “I had bound myself to bring peace-offerings; this day have I paid my vows:
to dai Y haue yolde my vowis.
15 Therefore am I come forth to meet thee, to seek thy presence diligently, and I have found thee.
Therfor Y yede out in to thi meetyng, and Y desiride to se thee; and Y haue founde thee.
16 With tapestry coverings have I decked my bed, with embroidered coverlids of the fine linen of Egypt.
Y haue maad my bed with coordis, Y haue arayed with tapetis peyntid of Egipt;
17 I have sprinkled my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Y haue bispreynt my bed with myrre, and aloes, and canel.
18 Come, let us indulge in love until the morning: let us delight ourselves with dalliances.
Come thou, be we fillid with tetis, and vse we collyngis that ben coueitid; til the dai bigynne to be cleer.
19 For the man is not in his house, he is gone on a journey a great way off:
For myn hosebonde is not in his hows; he is goon a ful long weie.
20 The bag of money hath he taken with him, by the day of the new-moon festival only will he come home.”
He took with hym a bagge of money; he schal turne ayen in to his hous in the dai of ful moone.
21 She seduced him by the abundance of her reasoning: by the flattery of her lips she misguided him.
Sche boonde hym with many wordis; and sche drow forth hym with flateryngis of lippis.
22 He followed after her suddenly, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, and as in fetters to his correction, the fool:
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 Till an arrow cleaveth through his liver; as a bird hasteneth into the snare, and knoweth not that it is done to take his life.
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 And now, O children, hearken unto me, and listen to the sayings of my mouth.
Now therfor, my sone, here thou me; and perseyue the wordis of my mouth.
25 Let not thy heart turn aside to her ways, do not go astray on her paths.
Lest thi soule be drawun awei in the weies of hir; nether be thou disseyued in the pathis of hir.
26 For many deadly wounded hath she caused to fall: yea, very numerous are all those slain by her.
For sche castide doun many woundid men; and alle strongeste men weren slayn of hir.
