| 1 | My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you. |
| 2 | Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye. |
| 3 | Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart. |
| 4 | Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call prudence your friend. |
| 5 | So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words. |
| 6 | For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice, |
| 7 | and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth, |
| 8 | who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house. |
| 9 | He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night. |
| 10 | And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling, |
| 11 | unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home, |
| 12 | now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners. |
| 13 | And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying: |
| 14 | "I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows. |
| 15 | Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you. |
| 16 | I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt. |
| 17 | I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon. |
| 18 | Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn. |
| 19 | For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey. |
| 20 | He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon." |
| 21 | She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips. |
| 22 | Immediately, he follows her, like an ox being led to the sacrifice, and like a lamb acting lasciviously, and not knowing that he is being drawn foolishly into chains, |
| 23 | until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul. |
| 24 | Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth. |
| 25 | Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths. |
| 26 | For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her. |
| 27 | Her household is the way to Hell, reaching even to the inner places of death. |
