Proverbs 7:1–27

¹ My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. ² Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. ³ Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman, ⁵ that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words. ⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice. ⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment, ⁸ crossing the street near her corner, strolling down the road to her house, ⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night. ¹⁰ Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart. ¹¹ She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home. ¹² Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner. ¹³ She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him: ¹⁴ “I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows. ¹⁵ So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you. ¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt. ¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses! ¹⁹ For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. ²⁰ He took with him a bag of money and will not return till the moon is full.” ²¹ With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him. ²² He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, ²³ until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare— not knowing it will cost him his life. ²⁴ Now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths. ²⁶ For she has brought many down to death; her slain are many in number. ²⁷ Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.