Proverbs

7 My son, keep my sayings,

And treasure up my commandments.+

 2 Keep my commandments and live;+

Guard my instruction* like the pupil of your eye.

 3 Tie them around your fingers;

Write them on the tablet of your heart.+

 5 To guard you against the wayward* woman,+

Against the immoral* woman and her smooth* words.+

 6 From the window of my house,

Through my lattice, I looked down,

 7 And as I observed the naive* ones,

I discerned among the youths a young man lacking good sense.*+

 8 He passed along the street near her corner,

And he marched in the direction of her house

 9 In the twilight, in the evening,+

At the approach of night and darkness.

10 Then I saw a woman meet him,

Dressed like* a prostitute,+ with a cunning heart.

12 One moment she is outside, next she is in the public squares,

She lurks near every corner.+

13 She grabs hold of him and gives him a kiss;

With a bold face, she says to him:

15 That is why I came out to meet you,

To look for you, and I found you!

16 I have spread fine covers upon my bed,

Colorful linen from Egypt.+

18 Come, let us drink our fill of love until the morning;

Let us enjoy passionate love together,

19 For my husband is not at home;

He has gone on a distant journey.

20 He took a bag of money with him,

And he will not return until the day of the full moon.”

22 Suddenly he goes after her, like a bull to the slaughter,

Like a fool to be punished in the stocks,*+

23 Until an arrow pierces his liver;

Like a bird rushing into a trap, he does not know that it will cost him his life.*+

24 And now, my sons, listen to me;

Pay attention to the words I speak.

Do not stray onto her paths,+

26 For she has caused many to fall down slain,+

And those she has killed are numerous.+

27 Her house leads to the Grave;*

It goes down to the inner chambers of death.