Proverbs 7
7
Dressed to Seduce
1-5Dear friend, do what I tell you;
treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.
Treat Insight as your companion.
They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—
that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6-12As I stood at the window of my house
looking out through the shutters,
Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,
I spotted a young man without any sense
Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived,
then turning up the path to her house.
It was dusk, the evening coming on,
the darkness thickening into night.
Just then, a woman met him—
she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
Brazen and brash she was,
restless and roaming, never at home,
Walking the streets, loitering in the mall,
hanging out at every corner in town.
13-20She threw her arms around him and kissed him,
boldly took his arm and said,
“I’ve got all the makings for a feast—
today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
So now I’ve come to find you,
hoping to catch sight of your face—and here you are!
I’ve spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed,
colorful imported linens.
My bed is aromatic with spices
and exotic fragrances.
Come, let’s make love all night,
spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
My husband’s not home; he’s away on business,
and he won’t be back for a month.”
21-23Soon she has him eating out of her hand,
bewitched by her honeyed speech.
Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her,
like a calf led to the butcher shop,
Like a stag lured into ambush
and then shot with an arrow,
Like a bird flying into a net
not knowing that its flying life is over.
24-27So, friends, listen to me,
take these words of mine most seriously.
Don’t fool around with a woman like that;
don’t even stroll through her neighborhood.
Countless victims come under her spell;
she’s the death of many a poor man.
She runs a halfway house to hell,
fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
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Proverbs 7: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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.