Proverbs 7 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Adulteress’ Trap

7My son, ^akeep my wordsAnd treasure my commandments within you.²^aKeep my commandments and live,And my ¹law ^bas the ²apple of your eye.³^aBind them on your fingers;^bWrite them on the tablet of your heart.⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”And call understanding your intimate friend;⁵In order to keep you from the strange woman,From the foreign woman who ¹flatters with her words.⁶For ^aat the window of my houseI looked out ^bthrough my lattice,⁷And I saw among the ^asimple,And discerned among the ¹sonsA young man ^blacking a heart of wisdom,⁸Passing through the street near ^aher corner;And he strides along the way to ^bher house,⁹In the ^atwilight, in the evening of that day,In the ¹middle of the night, and in the thick darkness.¹⁰And behold, a woman comes to meet him,^aDressed as a harlot and ¹cunning of heart.¹¹She is ^aboisterous and rebellious,Her ^bfeet do not dwell at home;¹²Stepping in the streets, stepping ^ain the squares,And near every corner she ^blies in wait.¹³So she seizes him and kisses him¹And with a ^abrazen face she says to him:¹⁴“The sacrifices of ^apeace offerings are with me;Today I ^bpaid my vows.¹⁵“Therefore I have come out to meet you,To seek your face earnestly, and I have found you.¹⁶“I have spread my couch with ^acoverings,With colored ^blinens of Egypt.¹⁷“I have sprinkled my bedWith ^amyrrh, aloes, and ^bcinnamon.¹⁸“Come, then, let us drink our fill as lovers until morning;Let us delight ourselves with the pleasures of love.¹⁹“For ¹my husband is not at home,He has gone on a journey far away;²⁰He took a ^abag of silver in his hand,On the day of the full moon he will come home.”²¹With her abundant ¹persuasions she entices him;With her ^aflattering lips she drives him to herself.²²He suddenly follows herAs an ox goes to the slaughter,Or ¹as one in fetters to the discipline of an ignorant fool,²³Until an arrow pierces through his liver;As a ^abird hastens to the snare,And he does not know that it will cost him his ¹soul.²⁴So now, my sons, ^alisten to me,And pay attention to the words of my mouth.²⁵Do not let your heart ^ago astray into her ways,Do not wander into her pathways.²⁶For many are the slain whom she has cast down,And ^anumerous are all those killed by her.²⁷The ways to Sheol are in her ^ahouse,Descending to the chambers of death.