Proverbs 7
1 My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
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.
Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
3 Tie my commands around your fingers [in order that they will remind you to obey them]. Always keep them in mind [MET].
Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
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.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
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.
So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
6 One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
7 I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
8 He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
9 at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
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.
And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
11 She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
13 [When she saw that young man], she put her arms around him and kissed him. Then without being a bit ashamed, she said,
And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
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.
“I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
15 And now I have come out to meet/see you. I was searching for you, and [now] 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 put on my bed sheets/bedspreads that were made from [very fine] linen [that were imported] {[people brought]} from Egypt.
I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
18 Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
19 My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
20 He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
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,
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 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).
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 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not allow anything to arouse/persuade you to go with an immoral woman like that. Do not go where she goes.
Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
26 She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
