7
1 My
son, keep my words.
Lay up my
commandments within you.
2 Keep
my commandments
and live!
Guard my teaching
as the apple of
your eye.
3 Bind
them on
your fingers.
Write them on
the tablet of
your heart.
4 Tell wisdom,
“You are my sister.”
Call understanding your relative,
5 that they may
keep you from
the strange woman,
from the
foreigner who
flatters with her words.
6 For
at the window
of my house,
I looked out
through my lattice.
7 I
saw among the
simple ones.
I discerned among
the youths a
young man void
of understanding,
8 passing
through the
street near her
corner,
he went the
way to her
house,
9 in
the twilight, in
the evening of
the day,
in the middle of
the night and
in the darkness.
10 Behold,
there a woman met
him with the
attire of a
prostitute,
and with crafty intent.
11 She
is loud
and defiant.
Her feet don’t
stay in her
house.
12 Now she
is in the
streets, now in
the squares,
and lurking at
every corner.
13 So
she caught him,
and kissed him.
With an impudent
face she said to
him:
14 “Sacrifices
of peace offerings
are with me.
Today I have
paid my vows.
15 Therefore
I came out
to meet you,
to diligently
seek 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.
17 I have
perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes,
and cinnamon.
18 Come,
let’s take our
fill of loving
until the morning.
Let’s solace ourselves
with loving.
19 For
my husband isn’t at
home.
He has gone
on a long
journey.
20 He
has taken a
bag of money
with him.
He will come home
at the full
moon.”
21 With persuasive words,
she led him
astray.
With the
flattering of her
lips, she seduced
him.
22 He
followed her
immediately,
as an ox goes
to the slaughter,
as a fool stepping
into a noose.
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.
24 Now
therefore, sons,
listen to me.
Pay attention to
the words of
my mouth.
25 Don’t let
your heart turn
to her ways.
Don’t go astray
in her paths,
26 for
she has thrown
down many wounded.
Yes, all her
slain are a
mighty army.
27 Her
house is the
way to Sheol,
going down to
the rooms of
death.