Proverbs
Chapter 7

1

My son, keep my words, and treasure my commands.

2

Keep my commands and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye;

3

Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.

4

Say to Wisdom, "You are my sister!" call Understanding, "Friend!"

5

That they may keep you from another's wife, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

6

For at the window of my house, through my lattice I looked out--

7

And I saw among the simple ones, I observed among the young men, a youth with no sense,

8

Going along the street near the corner, then walking in the direction of her house--

9

In the twilight, at dusk of day, at the time of the dark of night.

10

And lo! the woman comes to meet him, robed like a harlot, with secret designs--

11

She is fickle and unruly, in her home her feet cannot rest;

12

Now she is in the streets, now in the open squares, and at every corner she lurks in ambush--

13

When she seizes him, she kisses him, and with an impudent look says to him:

14

¹ "I owed peace offerings, and today I have fulfilled my vows;

15

So I came out to meet you, to look for you, and I have found you!

16

With coverlets I have spread my couch, with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen;

17

I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.

18

"Come, let us drink our fill of love, until morning, let us feast on love!

19

For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey;

20

A bag of money he took with him, not till the full moon will he return home."

21

She wins him over by her repeated urging, with her smooth lips she leads him astray;

22

He follows her stupidly, like an ox that is led to slaughter; Like a stag that minces toward the net,

23

till an arrow pierces its liver; Like a bird that rushes into a snare, unaware that its life is at stake.

24

So now, O children, listen to me, be attentive to the words of my mouth!

25

Let not your heart turn to her ways, go not astray in her paths;

26

For many are those she has struck down dead, numerous, those she has slain.

27

Her house is made up of ways to the nether world, leading down into the chambers of death.

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Footnotes

¹ [14] "Peace offerings . . . vows": a portion of the sacrifice reverted to the donor and had to be eaten on the same day at a family festival (Lev 7:11-15). In this figure, the adulteress offers to share with the foolish young man the deadly feast of her sensuality.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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