Proverbs 7

¹My son , keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

²keep my commandments and live ; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye ;

³bind them on your fingers ; write them on the tablet of your heart .

⁴Say to wisdom , You are my sister , and call insight your intimate friend ,

⁵to keep you from the forbidden woman , from the adulteress with her smooth words .

⁶For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice ,

⁷and I have seen among the simple , I have perceived among the youths , a young man lacking sense ,

⁸passing along the street near her corner , taking the road to her house

⁹in the twilight , in the evening , at the time of night and darkness .

¹⁰And behold , the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute , wily of heart .

¹¹She is loud and wayward ; her feet do not stay at home ;

¹²now in the street , now in the market , at every corner she lies in wait .

¹³She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,

¹⁴I had to offer sacrifices , and today I have paid my vows ;

¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings , colored linens from Egyptian linen ;

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

¹⁸Come , let us take our fill of love till morning ; let us delight ourselves with love .

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

²⁰he took a bag of money with him ; at full moon he will come home .

²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

²²All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter , or as a stag is caught fast

²³till an arrow pierces its liver ; as a bird rushes into a snare ; he does not know that it will cost him his life .

²⁴And now , O sons , listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth .

²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways ; do not stray into her paths ,

²⁶for many a victim has she laid low , and all her slain are a mighty throng .

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