Proverbs 7

¹ My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee.

² Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.

³ Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.

⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman:

⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.

⁶ For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;

⁷ And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding,

⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house,

⁹ In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.

¹¹ (She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house:

¹² Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, And lieth in wait at every corner.)

¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him, And with an impudent face she said unto him:

¹⁴ Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows.

¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

¹⁶ I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with loves.

¹⁹ For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey:

²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon.

²¹ With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.

²² He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;

²³ Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.

²⁴ Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth.

²⁵ Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths.

²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.

²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.