Proverbs 7
1 My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
My son! Keep my sayings, And lay up my commands with 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.
Keep my commands, and live, And 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 them on your fingers, Write them on the tablet 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 cry to understanding, “Relative!”
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.
To preserve you from a strange woman, From a stranger who has made her sayings smooth.
6 One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
For at a window of my house, I have looked out 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 I see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
8 He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way [to] her house he steps,
9 at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
In the twilight—in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
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 to meet him—(A harlot’s dress, and watchful of heart,
11 She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
She [is] noisy, and stubborn, her feet do not rest in her house.
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And she lies in wait near 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,
And she laid hold on him and kissed him, She has hardened her face and says to 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 [are] by me, Today I have completed 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 I have come forth to meet you, To earnestly seek your face, and I find 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 decked my bed [with] ornamental coverings, Carved works—cotton of Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
I sprinkled 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, we are filled [with] love until the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
19 My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
For the man is not in his house, He has gone on a long journey.
20 He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
He has taken a bag of money in his hand, At the day of the new moon he comes to his house.”
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
She turns him aside with the abundance of her speech, She forces him 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,
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,
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 an arrow splits his liver, As a bird has hurried to a snare, And has not known that it [is] for its life.
24 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And give attention to sayings 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 heart turn to her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
26 She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty [are] all her slain ones.
