Proverbs

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

² And my law as the apple of your eye.

³ Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴ And call understanding your intimate friend;

⁵ From the foreign woman who flatters with her words.

⁶ I looked out through my lattice,

⁷ And discerned among the sons A young man lacking a heart of wisdom,

⁸ And he strides along the way to her house,

⁹ In the middle of the night, and in the thick darkness.

¹⁰ Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.

¹¹ Her feet do not dwell at home;

¹² And near every corner she lies in wait.

¹³ And with a brazen face she says to him:

¹⁴ Today I paid my vows.

¹⁵ To seek your face earnestly, and I have found you.

¹⁶ With colored linens of Egypt.

¹⁷ With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸ Let us delight ourselves with the pleasures of love.

¹⁹ He has gone on a journey far away;

²⁰ On the day of the full moon he will come home.”

²¹ With her flattering lips she drives him to herself.

²² As an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the discipline of an ignorant fool,

²³ As a bird hastens to the snare, And he does not know that it will cost him his soul.

²⁴ And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵ Do not wander into her pathways.

²⁶ And numerous are all those killed by her.

²⁷ Descending to the chambers of death.