7:1 My son, keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.
7:2 Keep my commandments and live,
And my ①teaching as the ②apple of your eye.
▷ ①Or law ②Lit pupil
7:3 Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your intimate friend,
7:5 So that they may keep you from an ①adulteress,
From the foreigner who flatters with her words.
▷ ①Lit strange woman
7:6 For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
7:7 And I saw among the naive,
And discerned among the ①youths
A young man lacking ②sense,
▷ ①Lit sons ②Lit heart
7:8 Passing through the street near her corner;
And he walks along the way to her house,
7:9 In the twilight, in the ①evening,
In the ②middle of the night and the darkness.
▷ ①Lit evening of the day ②Lit pupil (of the eye)
7:10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
Dressed as a prostitute and cunning of heart.
7:11 She is boisterous and rebellious,
Her feet do not remain at home;
7:12 She is now in the streets, now in the public squares,
And lurks by every corner.
7:13 So she seizes him and kisses him,
①And with a brazen face she says to him:
▷ ①Lit She makes bold her face and says
7:14 “ ①I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
▷ ①Lit Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me
7:15 Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence diligently, and I have found you.
7:16 I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
7:17 I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning;
Let’s delight ourselves with caresses.
7:19 For ①my husband is not at home;
He has gone on a long journey.
▷ ①Lit the man
7:20 He has taken a bag of money ①with him.
At the full moon he will come home.”
▷ ①Lit in his hand
7:21 With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her ①flattering lips she seduces him.
▷ ①Lit smooth
7:22 Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as ①one walks in ankle bracelets to the discipline of a fool,
▷ ①Or as a stag goes into a trap; as in some ancient versions, Heb is uncertain
7:23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hurries to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
7:24 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
7:26 For many are the ①victims she has brought to ruin,
And numerous are all those slaughtered by her.
▷ ①Lit wounded
7:27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.