The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Proverbs 07
1 My son, keep my words.
Lay up my commandments within
you.
2 Keep my commandments and live!
Guard my teaching as the apple of
your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”
Call understanding your relative,
5 that they may keep you from the strange
woman, from the foreigner who flatters with
her words.
6 For at the window of my house,
I looked out through my lattice.
7 I saw among the simple ones.
I discerned among the youths a young
man void of understanding,
8 passing through the street near her corner,
he went the way to her house,
9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day,
in the middle of the night and in the
darkness.
10 Behold, there a woman met him with the
attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.
11 She is loud and defiant.
Her feet don’t stay in her house.
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the
squares, and lurking at every corner.
13 So she caught him, and kissed him.
With an impudent face she said to
him:
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with
me. Today I have paid my vows.
15 Therefore I came out to meet you,
to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with carpets of
tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of
Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s take our fill ofloving until the
morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
19 For my husband isn’t at home.
He has gone on a long journey.
20 He has taken a bag of money with him.
He will come home at the full moon.”
21 With persuasive words, she led him
astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22 He followed her immediately,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
as a fool stepping into a noose.
23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver,
as a bird hurries to the snare,
and doesn’t know that it will cost his
life.
24 Now therefore, sons, listen to me.
Pay attention to the words of my
mouth.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways.
Don’t go astray in her paths,
26 for she has thrown down many
wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,†
going down to the rooms of death.