7:24 So now, sons, 1 listen to me,
and pay attention to the words I speak. 2
7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways –
do not wander into her pathways;
7:26 for she has brought down 3 many fatally wounded,
and all those she has slain are many. 4
7:27 Her house is the way to the grave, 5
going down 6 to the chambers 7 of death.
1 tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”
2 tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”
3 tn Heb “she has caused to fall.”
4 tn Heb “numerous” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “countless.”
5 tn The noun “Sheol” in parallelism to “the chambers of death” probably means the grave. The noun is a genitive of location, indicating the goal of the road(s). Her house is not the grave; it is, however, the sure way to it.
6 tn The Qal active participle modifies “ways” to Sheol. The “road,” as it were, descends to the place of death.
7 tn “Chambers” is a hypocatastasis, comparing the place of death or the grave with a bedroom in the house. It plays on the subtlety of the temptation. Cf. NLT “Her bedroom is the den of death.”