Proverbs 7:1-20

Admonition to Avoid the Wiles of the Adulteress

7:1 My child, keep my words

and treasure up my commands in your own keeping.

7:2 Keep my commands so that you may live,

and obey my instruction as your most prized possession.

7:3 Bind them on your forearm;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call understanding a close relative,

7:5 so that they may keep you from the adulterous woman,

from the loose woman who flatters you with her words.

7:6 For at the window of my house

through my window lattice I looked out

7:7 and I saw among the naive –

I discerned among the youths –

a young man who lacked wisdom.

7:8 He was passing by the street near her corner,

making his way along the road to her house

7:9 in the twilight, the evening,

in the dark of the night.

7:10 Suddenly a woman came out to meet him!

She was dressed like a prostitute and with secret intent.

7:11 (She is loud and rebellious,

she does not remain at home –

7:12 at one time outside, at another in the wide plazas,

and by every corner she lies in wait.)

7:13 So she grabbed him and kissed him,

and with a bold expression she said to him,

7:14 “I have fresh meat at home;

today I have fulfilled my vows!

7:15 That is why I came out to meet you,

to look for you, and I found you!

7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings,

with richly colored fabric from Egypt.

7:17 I have perfumed my bed

with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

7:18 Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning,

let’s delight ourselves with sexual intercourse.

7:19 For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a journey of some distance.

7:20 He has taken a bag of money with him;

he will not return until the end of the month.”