Proverbs 7
1 Mi sone, kepe thou my wordis; and kepe myn heestis to thee. Sone, onoure thou the Lord, and thou schalt be `myyti; but outakun hym drede thou not an alien.
My son! Keep my sayings, And lay up my commands with you.
2 Kepe thou myn heestis, and thou schalt lyue; and my lawe as the appil of thin iyen.
Keep my commands, and live, And my law as the pupil of your eye.
3 Bynde thou it in thi fyngris; write thou it in the tablis of thin herte.
Bind them on your fingers, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Seie thou to wisdom, Thou art my sistir; and clepe thou prudence thi frendesse.
Say to wisdom, “You [are] my sister.” And cry to understanding, “Relative!”
5 That it kepe thee fro a straunge womman; and fro an alien womman, that makith hir wordis swete.
To preserve you from a strange woman, From a stranger who has made her sayings smooth.
6 For whi fro the wyndow of myn hous bi the latijs Y bihelde; and Y se litle children.
For at a window of my house, I have looked out through my casement,
7 I biholde a yong man coward,
And I see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
8 that passith bi the stretis, bisidis the corner; and he
Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way [to] her house he steps,
9 goith niy the weie of hir hous in derk tyme, whanne the dai drawith to niyt, in the derknessis and myst of the nyyt.
In the twilight—in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
10 And lo! a womman, maad redi with ournement of an hoore to disseyue soulis, meetith hym, and sche is a ianglere, and goynge about,
And behold, a woman to meet him—(A harlot’s dress, and watchful of heart,
11 and vnpacient of reste, and mai not stonde in the hous with hir feet;
She [is] noisy, and stubborn, her feet do not rest in her house.
12 and now without forth, now in stretis, now bisidis corneris sche `aspieth.
Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And she lies in wait near every corner)—
13 And sche takith, and kissith the yong man; and flaterith with wowynge cheer, and seith, Y ouyte sacrifices for heelthe;
And she laid hold on him and kissed him, She has hardened her face and says to him,
14 to dai Y haue yolde my vowis.
“Sacrifices of peace-offerings [are] by me, Today I have completed my vows.
15 Therfor Y yede out in to thi meetyng, and Y desiride to se thee; and Y haue founde thee.
Therefore I have come forth to meet you, To earnestly seek your face, and I find you.
16 Y haue maad my bed with coordis, Y haue arayed with tapetis peyntid of Egipt;
I decked my bed [with] ornamental coverings, Carved works—cotton of Egypt.
17 Y haue bispreynt my bed with myrre, and aloes, and canel.
I sprinkled my bed [with] myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come thou, be we fillid with tetis, and vse we collyngis that ben coueitid; til the dai bigynne to be cleer.
Come, we are filled [with] love until the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
19 For myn hosebonde is not in his hows; he is goon a ful long weie.
For the man is not in his house, He has gone on a long journey.
20 He took with hym a bagge of money; he schal turne ayen in to his hous in the dai of ful moone.
He has taken a bag of money in his hand, At the day of the new moon he comes to his house.”
21 Sche boonde hym with many wordis; and sche drow forth hym with flateryngis of lippis.
She turns him aside with the abundance of her speech, She forces him with the flattery of her lips.
22 Anoon he as an oxe led to slayn sacrifice sueth hir, and as a ioli lomb and vnkunnynge; and the fool woot not, that he is drawun to bondys,
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 til an arowe perse his mawe. As if a brid hastith to the snare; and woot not, that it is don of the perel of his lijf.
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 Now therfor, my sone, here thou me; and perseyue the wordis of my mouth.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And give attention to sayings of my mouth.
25 Lest thi soule be drawun awei in the weies of hir; nether be thou disseyued in the pathis of hir.
Do not let your heart turn to her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
26 For sche castide doun many woundid men; and alle strongeste men weren slayn of hir.
For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty [are] all her slain ones.
