Proverbs 7
1 My son! Keep my sayings, And lay up my commands with you.
My son, observe my sayings, and my commandments must thou treasure up with thee.
2 Keep my commands, and live, And my law as the pupil of your eye.
Observe my commandments, and live: and my teaching as the apple of thy eyes.
3 Bind them on your fingers, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
Bind them around thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You [are] my sister.” And cry to understanding, “Relative!”
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
5 To preserve you from a strange woman, From a stranger who has made her sayings smooth.
That they may keep thee from an adulterous woman, from an alien that useth flattering speeches.
6 For at a window of my house, I have looked out through my casement,
For through the window of my house, through my lattice did I [once] look out,
7 And I see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a lad void of sense;
8 Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way [to] her house he steps,
He was passing through the market-place near her corner; and he stepped along on the way to her house,
9 In the twilight—in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the depth of the night and when it was dark:
10 And behold, a woman to meet him—(A harlot’s dress, and watchful of heart,
And, behold, a woman came to meet him with the attire of a harlot, and obdurate of heart.
11 She [is] noisy, and stubborn, her feet do not rest in her house.
(She is noisy and ungovernable; in her house her feet never rest;
12 Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And she lies in wait near every corner)—
At one time she is in the street, at another in the open places, and near every corner doth she lurk, )
13 And she laid hold on him and kissed him, She has hardened her face and says to him,
And she caught hold of him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said to him,
14 “Sacrifices of peace-offerings [are] by me, Today I have completed my vows.
“I had bound myself to bring peace-offerings; this day have I paid my vows:
15 Therefore I have come forth to meet you, To earnestly seek your face, and I find you.
Therefore am I come forth to meet thee, to seek thy presence diligently, and I have found thee.
16 I decked my bed [with] ornamental coverings, Carved works—cotton of Egypt.
With tapestry coverings have I decked my bed, with embroidered coverlids of the fine linen of Egypt.
17 I sprinkled my bed [with] myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, we are filled [with] love until the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
Come, let us indulge in love until the morning: let us delight ourselves with dalliances.
19 For the man is not in his house, He has gone on a long journey.
For the man is not in his house, he is gone on a journey a great way off:
20 He has taken a bag of money in his hand, At the day of the new moon he comes to his house.”
The bag of money hath he taken with him, by the day of the new-moon festival only will he come home.”
21 She turns him aside with the abundance of her speech, She forces him with the flattery of her lips.
She seduced him by the abundance of her reasoning: by the flattery of her lips she misguided him.
22 He is going after her straight away, he comes as an ox to the slaughter, And as a chain to the discipline of a fool,
He followed after her suddenly, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, and as in fetters to his correction, the fool:
23 Until an arrow splits his liver, As a bird has hurried to a snare, And has not known that it [is] for its life.
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.
24 And now, you sons, listen to me, And give attention to sayings of my mouth.
And now, O children, hearken unto me, and listen to the sayings of my mouth.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
Let not thy heart turn aside to her ways, do not go astray on her paths.
26 For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty [are] all her slain ones.
For many deadly wounded hath she caused to fall: yea, very numerous are all those slain by her.
