ProverbsChapter 7
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1My son, keep my words.
Store up my commands inside you like treasure. 2Keep my commands, and you will live.
Guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.a 3Tie them on your fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4Say to wisdom, "You are my sister."
Call understanding your close relative. 5They will keep you away from the woman who cheats on her husband.
They will keep you from the stranger with tempting words. 6For I was at the window of my house.
I looked out through the lattice. 7I saw some simple people.
Among the young men I noticed one who had no sense. 8He was crossing the street near her corner.
He was walking down the road toward her house. 9It was at twilight, as the day was ending.
The dark of night was coming. 10Then a woman came out to meet him.
She was dressed like a prostitute, and her heart was sly. 11She is loud and wild.
Her feet never stay at home. 12Now she is in the street, now in the squares.
She waits at every corner. 13She grabs him and kisses him.
With a bold face she says to him, 14"I have made my peace offerings.
Today I kept my vows. 15So I came out to meet you.
I looked for you, and I found you! 16I have spread covers on my bed.
They are colored linen from Egypt. 17I have made my bed smell sweet
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18Come, let's enjoy love all night until morning.
Let's delight in touching each other! 19For my husband isn't home.
He has gone on a long trip. 20He took a bag of money with him.
He won't be back until the full moon." 21She talks him into it with her clever words.
She tempts him with her flattering lips. 22All at once he follows her.
He is like an ox going to be killed.
He is like a deer jumping into a trap, 23until an arrow pierces his liver.
He is like a bird rushing into a trap.
He doesn't know it will cost him his life. 24Now, my sons, listen to me.
Pay attention to the words I speak. 25Don't let your heart turn toward her ways.
Don't wander onto her paths. 26For she has brought many people down to death.
The number of those she has killed is large. 27Her house is the road to the grave.
It goes down to the rooms of death.b