Shared Word Translation
Proverbs 7
Keep My Words
My child,
keep my words
and treasure my commandments
within you.
Keep my commandments and live,
and keep my instruction
like the pupil of your eye.
Bind them on your fingers;
write them
on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom,
“You are my sister,”
and call understanding
your close relative,
so that they may guard you
from the strange woman,
from the foreign woman
who makes her words smooth.
A Young Man Without Sense
For at the window of my house
I looked down through my lattice,
and I saw among the simple;
I noticed among the young people
a young man lacking sense.
He was passing through the street
near her corner,
walking along the way
toward her house,
in the twilight,
in the evening of the day,
in the middle of night
and darkness.
She Came Out to Meet Him
And look, a woman came out to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute
and crafty in heart.
She is loud and rebellious;
her feet do not remain
in her house.
Now in the street,
now in the public squares,
and at every corner
she lies in wait.
She seized him and kissed him;
with a bold face
she said to him:
“I had sacrifices of well-being to offer;
today I have fulfilled my vows.
So I came out to meet you,
diligently seeking your face,
and I have found you.
I have spread coverings over my bed,
colored linens from Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us drink our fill of love
until morning;
let us delight ourselves
with love.
For the man is not at home;
he has gone
on a distant journey.
He took a bag of silver with him;
he will return home
at the full moon.”
He Followed Her
With much persuasion
she turned him aside;
with smooth lips
she compelled him.
Suddenly he followed her,
like an ox going to slaughter,
like a fool going
to the restraint of discipline,
until an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird rushing into a snare,
not knowing
that it will cost his life.
Do Not Wander into Her Ways
And now, children, listen to me;
pay attention
to the words of my mouth.
Do not let your heart turn aside
to her ways;
do not wander
into her paths.
For many are the wounded
she has brought down,
and numerous are all
whom she has killed.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
descending to the chambers of death.