1 | My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. |
2 | Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thy eye. |
3 | Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart. |
4 | Say to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: |
5 | That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. |
6 | For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, |
7 | And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, |
8 | Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house. |
9 | In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: |
10 | And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart. |
11 | (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: |
12 | Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) |
13 | So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said to him, |
14 | I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows. |
15 | Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. |
16 | I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. |
17 | I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. |
18 | Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. |
19 | For the good-man is not at home, he is gone a long journey: |
20 | He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. |
21 | With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she impelled him. |
22 | He goeth after her quickly, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; |
23 | Till a dart striketh through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. |
24 | Now therefore hearken to me, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. |
25 | Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. |
26 | For she hath cast down many wounded: yes, many strong men have been slain by her. |
27 | Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. |