< 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, my commandments, treasure by 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 mine instruction, as the pupil 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, on the tablet 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, My sister, thou! and, an acquaintance, call thou, understanding:
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 thou mayest be kept, from the woman that is a stranger, from the female unknown, who, with her speeches, doth flatter.
6 One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
For, in the window of my house, through my lattice, I looked out;
7 I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
And saw among the simple ones, discerned among the youths, A young man lacking sense;
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, on the way to her house, he sauntered along;
9 at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the midst of the night, and the gloom;
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 lo! a woman, came to meet him, attired as one unchaste, of a wily heart.
11 She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
Boisterous, is she, and rebellious, In her house, abide not her feet;
12 She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
Now outside, now in the broadways, and, near every corner, she lieth in wait:
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, embolding her face, she said 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.
Peace-offerings, are by me, to-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!
For this cause, came I forth to meet thee, to seek diligently 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.
Coverlets, have I spread on my couch of pleasure, dark-hued stuffs, of the yarn of Egypt;
17 I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
I have 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! let us take our fill of endearments, until morning, let us delight ourselves with caresses;
19 My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
For the husband is not in his house, he hath gone on a journey afar;
20 He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
A bag of silver, hath he taken in his hand, On the day of the full moon, will he enter his house.
21 [So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
She turneth him aside, with her great persuasiveness, —with the flattery of her lips, she compelleth 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,
Going after her instantly, as an ox, to the slaughter, he entereth, and, as in fetters, unto the correction 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 cleaveth his liver, as a bird hasteth into a snare, and knoweth not, that, for his life, it is!
24 My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and attend, to the 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.
Let not thy heart, turn aside to her ways, Do not go astray, in her paths.
26 She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
For, many, wounded, hath she caused to fall, —yea strong men, slain wholly by her:
27 The road to her house is the road to the grave. Those who enter her bedroom [PRS] will die as a result. (Sheol )
Ways to hades, are in her house, descending into the chambers of death. (Sheol )