Proverbs 7
1 My son! keep my sayings, And my commands lay up with thee.
My son, heed my advice, and guard my instructions [as you would] [MET] [guard] a treasure.
2 Keep my commands, and live, And my law as the pupil of thine eye.
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.
3 Bind them on thy fingers, Write them on the tablet of thy heart.
Tie my commands around your fingers [in order that they will remind you to obey them]. Always keep them in mind [MET].
4 Say to wisdom, 'My sister Thou [art].' And cry to understanding, 'Kinswoman!'
[Love] wisdom [like you love] your sister. Understand what is wise, [and let that be as dear to you as] members of your family.
5 To preserve thee from a strange woman, From a stranger who hath made smooth her sayings.
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.
6 For, at a window of my house, Through my casement I have looked out,
One day, I was standing at the window inside my house, and I looked outside.
7 And I do see among the simple ones, I discern among the sons, A young man lacking understanding,
I saw some young men who did not have good sense. Among them was a man who was very foolish.
8 Passing on in the street, near her corner, And the way [to] her house he doth step,
He crossed the street near [the house of] an immoral woman. He was walking along the path toward her house
9 In the twilight — in the evening of day, In the darkness of night and blackness.
at twilight, when it was getting dark [DOU].
10 And, lo, a woman to meet him — (A harlot's dress, and watchful of heart,
Suddenly the woman came out to see/meet him. She was dressed (seductively/like a prostitute), wanting to persuade him to sleep with her.
11 Noisy she [is], and stubborn, In her house her feet rest not.
She was a loud talker, one who was rebellious; she [SYN] never stayed at home.
12 Now in an out-place, now in broad places, And near every corner she lieth in wait) —
She often went into the city streets and plazas/markets, waiting to trap some man.
13 And she laid hold on him, and kissed him, She hath hardened her face, and saith to him,
[When she saw that young man], she put her arms around him and kissed him. Then without being a bit ashamed, she said,
14 'Sacrifices of peace-offerings [are] by me, To-day I have completed my vows.
“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.
15 Therefore I have come forth to meet thee, To seek earnestly thy face, and I find thee.
And now I have come out to meet/see you. I was searching for you, and [now] I have found you!
16 [With] ornamental coverings I decked my couch, Carved works — cotton of Egypt.
I have put on my bed sheets/bedspreads that were made from [very fine] linen [that were imported] {[people brought]} from Egypt.
17 I sprinkled my bed — myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I have sprinkled [sweet-smelling] perfumes on my bed— myrrh and aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, we are filled [with] loves till the morning, We delight ourselves in loves.
Come [with me]; let us enjoy having sex until [tomorrow] morning. Let’s enjoy making love.
19 For the man is not in his house, He hath gone on a long journey.
My husband is not at home; he has gone away on a long journey.
20 A bag of money he hath taken in his hand, At the day of the new moon he cometh to his house.'
He is carrying a wallet filled with money, and he will not return until the middle of this month.”
21 She turneth him aside with the abundance of her speech, With the flattery of her lips she forceth him.
[So] she persuaded him by [her] enticing/tempting words. She allured him by her smooth/sweet talk.
22 He is going after her straightway, As an ox unto the slaughter he cometh, And as a fetter unto the chastisement of a fool,
[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,
23 Till an arrow doth split his liver, As a bird hath hastened unto a snare, And hath not known that it [is] for its life.
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).
24 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And give attention to sayings of my mouth.
My son, listen to what I say; pay [careful] attention to my words.
25 Let not thy heart turn unto her ways, Do not wander in her paths,
Do not allow anything to arouse/persuade you to go with an immoral woman like that. Do not go where she goes.
26 For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, And mighty [are] all her slain ones.
She has caused many men to be ruined; truly, no one can count the men she has killed.
