< Proverbs 7 >
1 My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
2 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 Tie my commands around your fingers [in order that they will remind you to obey them]. Always keep them in mind [MET].
4 [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 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 One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
7 I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
8 He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
9 at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
10 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 was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
13 [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 [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 And now I have come out to meet/see you. I was searching for you, and [now] I have found you!
16 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 sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
19 My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
20 He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
22 [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 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 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
25 Do not allow anything to arouse/persuade you to go with an immoral woman like that. Do not go where she goes.
26 She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
27 The road to her house is the road to the grave. Those who enter her bedroom [PRS] will die as a result. (Sheol )
