Proverbs 7
1 My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
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.
Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of thine 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 them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy 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 unto wisdom: 'Thou art my sister', and call understanding thy kinswoman;
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.
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words.
6 One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;
7 I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
And I beheld among the thoughtless ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house;
9 at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness.
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, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.
11 She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
She is riotous and rebellious, her feet abide not in her house;
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lieth in wait at every corner.
13 [When she saw that young man], she put her arms around him and kissed him. Then without being a bit ashamed, she said,
So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said unto him:
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.
'Sacrifices of peace-offerings were due from me; this day have I paid my vows.
15 And now I have come out to meet/see you. I was searching for you, and [now] I have found you!
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
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 decked my couch with coverlets, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
For my husband is not at home, he is gone a long journey;
20 He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
He hath taken the bag of money with him; he will come home at the full moon.'
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield, with the blandishment of her lips she enticeth him away.
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,
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox that goeth to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;
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).
Till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteneth to the snare — and knoweth not that it is at the cost of his life.
24 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, 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.
Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
For she hath cast down many wounded; yea, a mighty host are all her slain.
