Proverbs 7
7
1 My son, keep my words.
Lay up my commandments within you.
2 Keep my commandments and live!
Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”
Call understanding your relative,
5that they may keep you from the strange woman,
from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6 For at the window of my house,
I looked out through my lattice.
7 I saw amongst the simple ones.
I discerned amongst the youths a young man void of understanding,
8 passing through the street near her corner,
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 Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute,
and with crafty intent.
11 She is loud and defiant.
Her feet don’t stay in her house.
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the squares,
and lurking at every corner.
13 So she caught him, and kissed him.
With an impudent face she said to him:
14“Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me.
Today I have paid my vows.
15 Therefore I came out to meet you,
to diligently seek your face,
and I have found you.
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’s take our fill of loving until the morning.
Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
19 For my husband isn’t at home.
He has gone on a long journey.
20 He has taken a bag of money with him.
He will come home at the full moon.”
21 With persuasive words, she led him astray.
With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22 He followed her immediately,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
as a fool stepping into a noose.
23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver,
as a bird hurries to the snare,
and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
24 Now therefore, sons, listen to me.
Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25Don’t let your heart turn to her ways.
Don’t go astray in her paths,
26 for she has thrown down many wounded.
Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,#7:27 Sheol is the place of the dead.
going down to the rooms of death.
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Proverbs 7
7
The Foolishness of Unfaithfulness
1My son, pay close attention
and don't forget
what I tell you to do.
2Obey me, and you will live!
Let my instructions be
your greatest treasure.
3Keep them at your fingertips
and write them
in your mind.
4Let wisdom be your sister
and make common sense
your closest friend.
5They will protect you
from the flattering words
of someone else's wife.
6From the window of my house,
I once happened to see
7some foolish young men.
8It was late in the evening,
sometime after dark.
9One of these young men
turned the corner
and was walking by the house
of an unfaithful wife.
10She was dressed fancy
like a woman of the street
with only one thing in mind.
11She was one of those women
who are loud and restless
and never stay at home,
12who walk street after street,
waiting to trap a man.
13She grabbed him and kissed him,
and with no sense of shame,
she said:
14“I had to offer a sacrifice,
and there is enough meat
left over for a feast.
15So I came looking for you,
and here you are!
16The sheets on my bed
are bright-colored cloth
from Egypt.
17And I have covered it
with perfume made of myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18“Let's go there
and make love all night.
19My husband is traveling,
and he's far away.
20He took a lot of money along,
and he won't be back home
before the middle
of the month.”
21And so, she tricked him
with all of her sweet talk
and her flattery.
22At once he followed her
like an ox on the way
to be slaughtered,
or like a fool on the way
to be punished#7.22 a fool … punished: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
23and killed with arrows.
He was no more than a bird
rushing into a trap,
without knowing
it would cost him his life.
24My son, pay close attention
to what I have said.
25Don't even think about
that kind of woman
or let yourself be misled
by someone like her.
26Such a woman has caused
the downfall and destruction
of a lot of men.
27Her house is a one-way street
leading straight down
to the world of the dead.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.