Proverbs 7
Legacy Standard Bible
The Adulteress’ Trap
7 My son, (A)keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.
2 (B)Keep my commandments and live,
And my [a]law (C)as the [b]apple of your eye.
3 (D)Bind them on your fingers;
(E)Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your intimate friend;
5 In order to keep you from the strange woman,
From the foreign woman who [c]flatters with her words.
6 For (F)at the window of my house
I looked out (G)through my lattice,
7 And I saw among the (H)simple,
And discerned among the [d]sons
A young man (I)lacking a heart of wisdom,
8 Passing through the street near (J)her corner;
And he strides along the way to (K)her house,
9 In the (L)twilight, in the evening of that day,
In the [e]middle of the night, and in the thick darkness.
10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
(M)Dressed as a harlot and [f]cunning of heart.
11 She is (N)boisterous and rebellious,
Her (O)feet do not dwell at home;
12 Stepping in the streets, stepping (P)in the squares,
And near every corner she (Q)lies in wait.
13 So she seizes him and kisses him
[g]And with a (R)brazen face she says to him:
14 “The sacrifices of (S)peace offerings are with me;
Today I (T)paid my vows.
15 Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your face earnestly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with (U)coverings,
With colored (V)linens of Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my bed
With (W)myrrh, aloes, and (X)cinnamon.
18 Come, then, let us drink our fill as lovers until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with the pleasures of love.
19 For [h]my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a journey far away;
20 He took a (Y)bag of silver in his hand,
On the day of the full moon he will come home.”
21 With her abundant [i]persuasions she entices him;
With her (Z)flattering lips she drives him to herself.
22 He suddenly follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or [j]as one in fetters to the discipline of an ignorant fool,
23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a (AA)bird hastens to the snare,
And he does not know that it will cost him his [k]soul.
24 So now, my sons, (AB)listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your heart (AC)go astray into her ways,
Do not wander into her pathways.
26 For many are the slain whom she has cast down,
And (AD)numerous are all those killed by her.
27 The ways to Sheol are in her (AE)house,
Descending to the chambers of death.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 7:2 Or instruction
- Proverbs 7:2 Lit pupil
- Proverbs 7:5 Lit is smooth
- Proverbs 7:7 Or youths
- Proverbs 7:9 Lit pupil (of the eye)
- Proverbs 7:10 Lit guarded
- Proverbs 7:13 Lit She makes bold her face and says
- Proverbs 7:19 Lit the man
- Proverbs 7:21 Lit learning
- Proverbs 7:22 Some ancient versions as a stag goes into a trap
- Proverbs 7:23 Or life
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