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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Proverbs 7: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 7
7
The Wiles of the Harlot
1My son, keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.
2Keep my commandments and live,
And 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 understanding your intimate friend;
5That they may keep you from an adulteress,
From the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
7And I saw among the naive,
And discerned among the youths
A young man lacking sense,
8Passing through the street near her corner;
And he takes the way to her house,
9In the twilight, in the evening,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
11She is boisterous and rebellious,
Her feet do not remain at home;
12 She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
And lurks by every corner.
13So she seizes him and kisses him
And with a brazen face she says to him:
14“I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
15Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
17I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.
19For my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a long journey;
20He has taken a bag of money with him,
At the full moon he will come home.”
21With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her flattering lips she seduces him.
22Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
23Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
26For many are the victims she has cast down,
And numerous are all her slain.
27Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.
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