Proverbs 7
1 My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
[My] son, keep my words, and hide with you my commandments. [My] son, honour the Lord, and you shall be strong; and fear none but him:
2 Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
keep my commandments, and you shall live; and [keep] my words as the pupils of [your] eyes.
3 Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
And bind them on your fingers, and write [them] on the table of your heart.
4 Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative,
Say that wisdom is your sister, and gain prudence as an acquaintance for yourself;
5 that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
that she may keep you from the strange and wicked woman, if she should assail you with flattering words.
6 For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.
For she looks from a window out of her house into the streets, at one whom she may see of the senseless ones, a young man void of understanding,
7 I saw amongst the simple ones. I discerned amongst the youths a young man void of understanding,
passing by the corner in the passages near her house,
8 passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,
and speaking, in the dark of the evening,
9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
when there happens [to be] the stillness of night and of darkness:
10 Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.
and the woman meets him having the appearance of a harlot, that causes the hearts of young men to flutter.
11 She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house.
And she is fickle, and debauched, and her feet abide not at home.
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.
For at one time she wanders without, and at [another] time she lies in wait in the streets, at every corner.
13 So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
Then she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said to him,
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows.
I have a peace-offering; today I pay my vows:
15 Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.
therefore I came forth to meet you, desiring your face; [and] I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
I have spread my bed with sheets, and I have covered it with double tapestry from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
Come, and let us enjoy love until the morning; come, and let us embrace in love.
19 For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey.
For my husband is not at home, but is gone on a long journey,
20 He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon.”
having taken in his hand a bundle of money: after many days he will return to his house.
21 With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
So with much converse she prevailed on him to go astray, and with the snares of her lips forced him from [the right path].
22 He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.
And he followed her, being gently led on, and [that] as an ox is led to the slaughter, and as a dog to bonds, or as a hart shot in the liver with an arrow:
23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
and he hastens as a bird into a snare, not knowing that he is running for [his] life.
24 Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths,
Let not your heart turn aside to her ways:
26 for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
for she has wounded and cast down many, and those whom she has slain are innumerable.
