Proverbs of Solomon 7

 Proverbs of Solomon 7

1 My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments within you.

2 Keep my commandments and live; my law is like the apple of your eye.

3 Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister,' and call prudence your relative.

5 To keep you safe from the strange woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

6 For from the window of my house, looking through my lattice,

7 I saw among the simple, I discovered among the youths, a young man void of sense,

8 Passing along the street near his corner, and taking the way to his house;

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

10 And behold, a woman came to meet him, with the attire of a prostitute and a crafty heart.

11 She was noisy and contentious; her feet would not stay at home.

12 Now in the streets, now in the squares, lurking in every corner.

13 She came to him and kissed him. She frowned and said to him,

14 "I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows.

15 Therefore I have come to meet you, to seek your face diligently, and I have found you.

16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with wrought works of fine linen from Egypt;

17 I have perfumed my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let us satisfy ourselves with love until the morning; let us rejoice with love.

19 For the husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

20 She took a bag of money in her hand; only on the appointed day will she return home.

21 She seduced him with the multitude of her words; with the flattering words of her lips she persuaded him.

22 And he followed her quickly, like an ox going to the slaughter, or like a madman to the punishment of the prison;

23 Until the arrow pierces his liver, like a bird rushing to the snare, unaware that it is there for his life.

24 Now therefore, my children, listen to me and pay attention to the words of my mouth:

25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, and do not wander in her paths.

26 For she has cast down many wounded, and very many have been slain by her.

27 Her house is the ways of the grave, going down to the chambers of death.