Warnings about the Adulteress

1My son, keep my words

and treasure my commandments within you.

2Keep my commandments and live;

guard my teachings as the apple \the pupil/a of your eye.

3Tie them to your fingers;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call understanding your kinsman,

5that they may keep you from the adulteress,

from the stranger with seductive words.

6For at the window of my house

I looked through the lattice.

7I saw among the simple,

I noticed among the youths,

a young man lacking judgment,

8crossing the street near her corner,

strolling down the road to her house,

9at twilight, as the day was fading

into the dark of the night.

10Then a woman came out to meet him,

with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

11She is loud and defiant;

her feet do not remain at home.

12Now in the street, now in the squares,

she lurks at every corner.

13She seizes him and kisses him;

she brazenly says to him:

14“I have made my peace offerings;

today I have paid my vows.

15So I came out to meet you;

I sought you, and I have found you.

16I have decked my bed with coverings,

with colored linen from Egypt (land of bondage).

17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

with aloes, and with cinnamon.

18Come, let us take our fill of love till morning.

Let us delight in loving caresses!

19For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey.

20He took with him a bag of money

and will not return till the moon is full.”

21With her great persuasion she entices him;

with her flattering lips she lures him.

22He follows her on impulse,

like an ox going to the slaughter,

like a deer bounding into a trap [like fetters to discipline a fool],b

23until an arrow pierces his liver,

like a bird darting into a snare—

not knowing it will cost him his life.

24Now, my sons, listen to me,

and attend to the words of my mouth.

25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her paths.

26For she has brought many down to death;

her slain are many in number.

27Her house is the road to Sheol,

descending to the chambers of death.