Proverbs 7

¹Proverbs 7:1. My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.²Proverbs 7:2. Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.³Proverbs 7:3. Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.⁴Proverbs 7:4. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,⁵Proverbs 7:5. that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

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