Proverbs — Chapter 7

My son, heed my words;And store up my commandments with you.

Keep my commandments and live,My teaching, as the apple of your eye—

Bind them on your fingers,Write them on the tablet of your mind.

Say to Wisdom, “You are my sister,”asister See note at 1.20. And call Understanding a kinswoman.

She will guard you from a forbiddenbforbidden Lit. “strange.” woman;From an alien woman whose talk is smooth.

From the window of my house,Through my lattice, I looked out

And saw among the simple,Noticed among the youths,A young man devoid of sense.

He was crossing the street near her corner,Walking toward her house

In the dusk of evening,In the dark hours of night.

A woman comes toward himDressed like a streetwalker, with set purpose.cDressed like a streetwalker, with set purpose Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

She is bustling and restive;She is never at home.

Now in the street, now in the square,She lurks at every corner.

She lays hold of him and kisses him.Brazenly she says to him,

“I had to make a sacrifice of well-being;Today I fulfilled my vows.

Therefore I have come out to you,Seeking you, and have found you.

I have decked my couch with coversOf dyed Egyptian linen;

I have sprinkled my bedWith myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Let us drink our fill of love till morning;Let us delight in amorous embrace.

For the man of the house is away;dthe man of the house is away Or “that other guy is not home,” namely, the speaker’s husband. He is off on a distant journey.

He took his bag of money with himAnd will return only at mid-month.”

She sways him with her eloquence,Turns him aside with her smooth talk.

Thoughtlessly he follows her,Like an ox going to the slaughter,Like a fool to the stocks for punishmenteLike a fool to the stocks for punishment Meaning of Heb. uncertain.—

Until the arrow pierces his liver.He is like a bird rushing into a trap,Not knowing his life is at stake.

Now, sons, listen to me;Pay attention to my words;

Let your mind not wander down her ways;Do not stray onto her paths.

For many are those she has struck dead,And numerous are her victims.

Her house is a highway to SheolLeading down to Death’s inner chambers.