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Warning Against the Strange Woman

My child, guard my sayings;
    store my commandments with you.
Keep my commands and live,
    and my teaching like the apple of your eye.[a]
Bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom,[b] “you are my sister,”
    and you shall call insight,[c]intimate friend.”[d]
In order to guard yourself from an adulteress,[e]
    from the foreigner who makes her words smooth.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 7:2 A single word meaning “pupil of the eye”
  2. Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the wisdom”
  3. Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the insight”
  4. Proverbs 7:4 Literally “one who is known.” To “know” is often a euphemism for intercourse. Therefore “intimate friend” may also be read “lover.”
  5. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “a strange woman”
  6. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “causes to be smooth her words”

My son, obey my words,
and treasure my commands.(A)
Keep my commands and live,(B)
and guard my instructions
as you would the pupil of your eye.(C)
Tie them to your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.(D)
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”(E)
and call understanding your relative.
She will keep you from a forbidden woman,
a wayward woman with her flattering talk.(F)

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