Proverbs 7:1-19 ▼

1 My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.

2 Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

3 Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,

5 that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

6 For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice.

7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,

8 crossing the street near her corner, strolling down the road to her house,

9 at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night.

10 Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

11 She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home.

12 Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.

13 She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him:

14 “I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows.

15 So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you.

16 I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.

17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!

19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.