Proverbs, 7

1. My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

1. My son, keep my words and remain faithful to my commands.

2. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

2. Hold fast to my instruction and you will have life; treasure my teachings as the apple of your eye.

3. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

3. Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablets of your heart.

4. Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman:

4. Let wisdom be your sister and knowledge your friend,

5. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger [which] flattereth with her words.

5. so that you will be saved from the adulterous woman, from the stranger with her enticing words.

6. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,

6. From my window I was looking out through the lattice and

7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

7. I saw among the young men, an inexperienced youth

8. Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

8. who walked along the road near her corner, towards the path to her house.

9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:

9. It was dusk, daylight was fading - the time of darkness and shadow.

10. And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.

10. And look! Out comes this woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute, covered with a veil.

11. (She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:

11. She is brazen and shameless, unable to remain in the house.

12. Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)

12. Now at the corner, now in the square, she is on the lookout.

13. So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face said unto him,

13. She throws herself at him, kisses him and confidently says,

14. [I have] peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.

14. "I have to offer sacrifices and terminate my vows; because of this

15. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

15. I came out to meet you. I sought and found you.

16. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of Egypt.

16. I have spread on my bed quilts and fine Egyptian sheets and

17. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

17. sprinkled it with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

18. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.

18. Come, let us abandon ourselves to pleasure and drink our fill of love all night,

19. For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey:

19. for my husband is not at home but away on a long journey.

20. He hath taken a bag of money with him, [and] will come home at the day appointed.

20. He has taken his moneybags and will not return before the full moon."

21. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

21. She led him astray with such smooth and seductive words.

22. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

22. At once he followed her, as an ox led to slaughter or a deer caught in a snare

23. Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.

23. until its liver is pierced by an arrow; as a bird springs at the snare unaware that its life is at stake.

24. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.

24. Now then, my sons, listen and pay attention to my words.

25. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.

25. Do not be led astray or lose yourself on her paths.

26. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her.

26. For she has brought many to their death and the strongest were all her victims.

27. Her house [is] the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

27. Her house leads to hell and death.