Proverbs 7

1My son! Keep my sayings, || And lay up my commands with you.

2Keep my commands, and live, || And my law as the pupil of your eye.

3Bind them on your fingers, || Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4Say to wisdom, “You [are] my sister.” And cry to understanding, “Relative!”

5To preserve you from a strange woman, || From a stranger who has made her sayings smooth.

6For at a window of my house, || I have looked out through my casement,

7And I see among the simple ones, || I discern among the sons, || A young man lacking understanding,

8Passing on in the street, near her corner, || And the way [to] her house he steps,

9In the twilight—in the evening of day, || In the darkness of night and blackness.

10And behold, a woman to meet him—(A harlot’s dress, and watchful of heart,

11She [is] noisy, and stubborn, her feet do not rest in her house.

12Now in an out-place, now in broad places, || And she lies in wait near every corner)—

13And she laid hold on him and kissed him, || She has hardened her face and says to him,

14“Sacrifices of peace-offerings [are] by me, || Today I have completed my vows.

15Therefore I have come forth to meet you, || To earnestly seek your face, and I find you.

16I decked my bed [with] ornamental coverings, || Carved works—cotton of Egypt.

17I sprinkled my bed [with] myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18Come, we are filled [with] love until the morning, || We delight ourselves in loves.

19For the man is not in his house, || He has gone on a long journey.

20He has taken a bag of money in his hand, || At the day of the new moon he comes to his house.”

21She turns him aside with the abundance of her speech, || She forces him with the flattery of her lips.

22He is going after her straight away, he comes as an ox to the slaughter, || And as a chain to the discipline of a fool,

23Until an arrow splits his liver, || As a bird has hurried to a snare, || And has not known that it [is] for its life.

24And now, you sons, listen to me, || And give attention to sayings of my mouth.

25Do not let your heart turn to her ways, || Do not wander in her paths,

26For many [are] the wounded she caused to fall, || And mighty [are] all her slain ones.

27The ways of Sheol—her house, || Going down to inner chambers of death!