Proverbs 7 - ESV Bible - My son, keep my words and treasure up my...

1 ¹My son, keep my words and ²treasure up my commandments with you;

2 ³keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as ⁴the apple of your eye;

3 ⁵bind them on your fingers; ⁶write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend,

5 to keep you from ⁷the forbidden^a woman, from ⁸the adulteress^b with her smooth words.

6 For at ⁹the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,

7 and I have seen among ¹⁰the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man ¹¹lacking sense,

8 passing along the street ¹²near her corner, taking the road to her house

9 in ¹³the twilight, in the evening, at ¹⁴the time of night and darkness.

10 And behold, the woman meets him, ¹⁵dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.^c

11 She is ¹⁶loud and ¹⁷wayward; ¹⁸her feet do not stay at home;

12 now in the street, now in the market, and ¹⁹at every corner she ²⁰lies in wait.

13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with ²¹bold face she says to him,

14 "I had to ²²offer sacrifices,^d and today I have ²³paid my vows;

15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

16 I have spread my couch with ²⁴coverings, colored linens from ²⁵Egyptian linen;

17 I have perfumed my bed with ²⁶myrrh, aloes, and ²⁷cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.

19 For ²⁸my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."

21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with ²⁹her smooth talk she compels him.

22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast^e

23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as ³⁰a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24 And ³¹now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,

26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are ³²a mighty throng.

27 Her house is ³³the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 7 ESV