Proverbs 7:1-20

English Standard Version

Warning Against the Adulteress

7 ^(A)My son, keep my words
    and ^(B)treasure up my commandments with you;
²^(C)keep my commandments and live;
    keep my teaching as ^(D)the apple of your eye;
³^(E)bind them on your fingers;
    ^(F)write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,
⁵to keep you from ^(G)the forbidden^[a] woman,
    from ^(H)the adulteress^[b] with her smooth words.

⁶For at ^(I)the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
⁷and I have seen among ^(J)the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man ^(K)lacking sense,
⁸passing along the street ^(L)near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
⁹in ^(M)the twilight, in the evening,
    at ^(N)the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him,
    ^(O)dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.^[c]
¹¹She is ^(P)loud and ^(Q)wayward;
    ^(R)her feet do not stay at home;
¹²now in the street, now in the market,
    and ^(S)at every corner she ^(T)lies in wait.
¹³She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with ^(U)bold face she says to him,
¹⁴“I had to ^(V)offer sacrifices,^[d]
    and today I have ^(W)paid my vows;
¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
¹⁶I have spread my couch with ^(X)coverings,
    colored linens from ^(Y)Egyptian linen;
¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with ^(Z)myrrh,
    aloes, and ^(AA)cinnamon.
¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹For ^(AB)my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey;
²⁰he took a bag of money with him;
    at full moon he will come home.”