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 Strange Woman
1My child, guard my sayings;
store my commandments with you.
2Keep my commands and live,
and my teaching like the apple of your eye.#A single word meaning “pupil of the eye”
3Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom,#Hebrew “the wisdom” “you are my sister,”
and you shall call insight,#Hebrew “the insight” “intimate friend.”#Literally “one who is known.” To “know” is often a euphemism for intercourse. Therefore “intimate friend” may also be read “lover.”
5In order to guard yourself from an adulteress,#Literally “a strange woman”
from the foreigner who makes her words smooth.#Literally “causes to be smooth her words”
6For at the window of my house,
through my lattice, I looked down.
7And I saw among the simple,
I observed among the youth,
a young man lacking sense,#Literally “heart”
8passing on the street at#Literally “at the place of” her corner,
and he takes the road to her house,
9at twilight, at the day’s evening,
in the midst of night and the darkness.
10Then behold! A woman comes to meet him
with the garment of a prostitute#Or “whore” and a secret heart.#Literally “secret of heart”
11She is loud and stubborn;
her feet do not stay at her house.
12Now in the street, now in the square,
at#Literally “at the place of” every corner she lies in wait.
13She took hold of #Or “strengthened” him and kissed him.
Her face was impudent, and she said to him,
14“Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me;
today#Literally “the day” I completed my vows.
15So#Hebrew “thus” I have come out to meet you,
to seek your face, and I have found you.
16With coverings I have adorned my couch,
spreads of the linen of Egypt;
17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love making,
until the morning let us delight in love.
19For there is no man#Or “husband” in his home;
he has gone on a long journey.#Literally “a journey from far”
20The bag of money he took in his hand,
for on the day of the full moon he will come home.”
21She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings;
with her smooth lips she compels him.
22He goes after her suddenly;
like an ox to the slaughter he goes,
and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,
23until an arrow pierces his entrails,#Literally “heaviness,” often referring to the liver
like a bird rushing into a snare,
but he does not know that it will cost him his life.#Literally “it is against his life”
Reiteration of the Warning Against a Strange Woman
24And now, my children, listen to me,
and be attentive to the sayings of my mouth.
25May your heart not turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her path.
26For many slain she has laid low,
and countless#Or “strong men” are all of her killings.
27The ways of Sheol#A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld are her house,
descending to chambers of death.
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