Proverbs 7
7
1My son,
pay attention to my words.
Treasure my commands that are within you.
2Obey my commands so that you may live.
Follow my teachings just as you protect the pupil of your eye.
3Tie them on your fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister.”
Give the name “my relative” to understanding
5in order to guard yourself from an adulterous woman,
from a loose woman with her smooth talk.
6From a window in my house I looked through my screen.
7I was looking at gullible people
when I saw a young man without much sense among youths
8He was crossing a street near her corner
and walking toward her house
9in the twilight,
in the evening,
in the dark hours of the night.
10A woman with an ulterior motive meets him.
She is dressed as a prostitute.
11She is loud and rebellious.
Her feet will not stay at home.
12One moment she is out on the street,
the next she is at the curb,
on the prowl at every corner.
13She grabs him and kisses him and brazenly says to him,
14“I have some sacrificial meat.
Today I kept my vows.
15That’s why I came to meet you.
Eagerly, I looked for you,
and I’ve found you.
16I’ve made my bed,
with colored sheets of Egyptian linen.
17I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning.
Let’s enjoy making love,
19because my husband’s not home.
He has gone on a long trip.
20He took lots of money with him.
He won’t be home for a couple of weeks.”
21With all her seductive charms, she persuades him.
With her smooth lips, she makes him give in.
22He immediately follows her
like a steer on its way to be slaughtered,
like a ram hobbling into captivity
23until an arrow pierces his heart,
like a bird darting into a trap.
He does not realize that it will cost him his life.
24Now, sons,
listen to me.
Pay attention to the words from my mouth.
25Do not let your heart be turned to her ways.
Do not wander onto her paths,
26because she has brought down many victims,
and she has killed all too many.
27Her home is the way to hell
and leads to the darkest vaults of death.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 7
7
Warning Against the Adulteress
1 # See ch. 2:1 My son, keep my words
and #See ch. 2:1treasure up my commandments with you;
2 # See ch. 4:4 keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as #Deut. 32:10the apple of your eye;
3 # See ch. 3:3 bind them on your fingers;
# See ch. 3:3 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 #See ch. 2:16the forbidden#7:5 Hebrew strange woman,
from #See ch. 2:16the adulteress#7:5 Hebrew the foreign woman with her smooth words.
6For at #Judg. 5:28the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7and I have seen among #See ch. 1:4 the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man #See ch. 6:32lacking sense,
8passing along the street #ver. 12near her corner,
taking the road to her house
9in #Job 24:15 the twilight, in the evening,
at #ch. 20:20the time of night and darkness.
10And behold, the woman meets him,
# [Gen. 38:14] dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.#7:10 Hebrew guarded in heart
11She is #ch. 9:13 loud and #[Hos. 4:16] wayward;
#
1 Tim. 5:13; [Titus 2:5] her feet do not stay at home;
12now in the street, now in the market,
and #ver. 8 at every corner she #ch. 23:28lies in wait.
13She seizes him and kisses him,
and with #ch. 21:29bold face she says to him,
14“I had to #Lev. 7:11 offer sacrifices,#7:14 Hebrew peace offerings
and today I have #See Ps. 50:14paid 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 #ch. 31:22 coverings,
colored linens from #[Isa. 19:9]Egyptian linen;
17I have perfumed my bed with #Ps. 45:8 myrrh,
aloes, and #Ex. 30:23cinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19For #Matt. 20:11my 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 #ch. 5:3; 6:24; See Ps. 12:2her 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#7:22 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as a chain to discipline a fool
23till an arrow pierces its liver;
as #Eccles. 9:12a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24And #See ch. 4:1now, 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 #[Neh. 13:26]; See Judg. 16:1-5a mighty throng.
27Her house is #[ch. 2:18; 5:5; 9:18]the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.
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