7:1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
7:2 keep my commandments and live, keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;
7:3 bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.
7:4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend;
7:5 to preserve you from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words.
7:6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
7:7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man without sense,
7:8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house
7:9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
7:10 And lo, a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart.
7:11 She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home;
7:12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
7:13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says to him:
7:14 "I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
7:15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
7:16 I have decked my couch with coverings, colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
7:19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
7:20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."
7:21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
7:22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
7:23 till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
7:24 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
7:25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths;
7:26 for many a victim has she laid low; yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
7:27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
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