| Chapter
7 |
| 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 thine eye. |
| 3
| Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine
heart. |
| 4 | Say unto 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
an 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 unto him, |
| 14
| I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. |
| 15 | Therefore came I 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
goodman 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 forced him. |
| 22 | He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the
slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; |
| 23 | Till a dart strike through his liver;
as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. |
| 24 | Hearken unto me now
therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. |
| 25 | Let not thine heart decline to her
ways, go not astray in her paths. |
|
26 | For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have
been slain by her. |
| 27 |
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. |
