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 law 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 thine 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 stranger which flattereth with 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 through my casement,
7 I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
And beheld among the simple 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, in the black and dark 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, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
Now is she without, now in the streets, 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 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.
I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed 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, diligently 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 bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen 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 the goodman 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 a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
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 goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
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 a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, 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 thine 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, many strong men have been slain by her.
