Chapter 7
1 My son, keep my words
and make my commands your treasure.
2 Follow my precepts, and you will live;
keep my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them to your fingers;
inscribe them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom,[a] “You are my sister,”
and regard understanding as your friend,
5 so that they may keep you from another’s wife,
from the adulteress with her seductive words.
6 While standing at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
7 and as I glanced at the immature youths,
I observed among the simple ones[b]
a lad with no sense.
8 He walked along the street near her corner
and then turned in the direction near her house,
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
at dusk when the night grows dark.
10 Then a woman came forth to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute with a scheming heart.
11 She was loud-mouthed and brazen,
one who is never content to rest at home,
12 always on the streets or the public squares,
lying in wait at every corner.
13 She caught him and kissed him,
and brazenly said to him:
14 “I had to make sacrificial peace offerings,[c]
and I have fulfilled my vows today.
15 And so I came out to meet you,
to look for you, and now I have found you.
16 I have spread coverlets over my bed,
covered sheets of Egyptian linen.[d]
17 “I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning,
abandoning ourselves to a feast of love.
19 For my husband is not at home;
he is away on a long journey.
20 He took a bag of money with him
and will not be back until the moon is full.”
21 With her persistent urging she persuaded him,
luring him astray with her seductive words.[e]
22 Bemused, he followed her,
like an ox being led to the slaughter,
like a stag stepping into a noose,
23 until an arrow pierces its liver,
like a bird rushing into a snare,
not realizing its life is at stake.
24 So now, my son, listen to me
and be attentive to what I have to say.
25 Do not let your heart stray into her ways
or wander into her paths.
26 For many are those she has led to death;
her victims are beyond number.
27 Her house is the pathway to the netherworld,[f]
the descent to the chambers of death.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 7:4 Wisdom: i.e., the body of knowledge of life handed down by the sages.
- Proverbs 7:7 The simple ones: see note on Prov 1:4.
- Proverbs 7:14 Sacrificial peace offerings: in this type of offering, part of the meat was eaten by the one who brought it and by his friends or family (see Lev 7:11-18). I have fulfilled my vows today: a fellowship offering was offered as the result of a vow, and it had to be eaten on the first or second day (see Lev 7:15-16).
- Proverbs 7:16 Covered sheets of Egyptian linen: in Prov 31:22, linen is associated with wealth, and Egyptian linen was very highly regarded.
- Proverbs 7:21 Persistent urging . . . seductive words: see notes on Prov 2:16; 5:3; see also v. 5; 6:24.
- Proverbs 7:27 Pathway to the netherworld: see notes on Prov 2:18; 5:5; see also Prov 14:12; 16:25; Mt 7:13; 1 Cor 6:9-10.