Proverbs 7

¹My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you

²Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye

³Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend

⁵So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words

⁶For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice

⁷and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth

⁸who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.

⁹He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night

¹⁰And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling

¹¹unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home

¹²now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners

¹³And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying

¹⁴“I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows

¹⁵Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you

¹⁶I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt

¹⁷I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon

¹⁸Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn

¹⁹For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey

²⁰He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.

²¹She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips

²²Immediately, he follows her, like an ox being led to the sacrifice, and like a lamb acting lasciviously, and not knowing that he is being drawn foolishly into chains

²³until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul

²⁴Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth

²⁵Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths

²⁶For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her

²⁷Her household is the way to Hell, reaching even to the inner places of death