⁷ And ^(M)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸ Keep your way far from her,
    and do not go near the door of her house,
⁹ lest you give your honor to others
    and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰ lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
    and your ^(N)labors go to the house of a foreigner,
¹¹ and at the end of your life you ^(O)groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹² and you say, ^(P)“How I hated discipline,
    and my heart ^(Q)despised reproof!
¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
^14 (R)I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵ Drink ^(S)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your ^(T)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(U)in the streets?
^17 (V)Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸ Let your ^(W)fountain be blessed,
    and ^(X)rejoice in ^(Y)the wife of your youth,
¹⁹     a lovely ^(Z)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts ^(AA)fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated^[d] always in her love.
²⁰ Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with ^(AB)a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of ^(AC)an adulteress?^[e]
21 For ^(AD)a man's ways are ^(AE)before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ^(AF)ponders^[f] all his paths.
²² The ^(AG)iniquities of the wicked ^(AH)ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
^23 (AI)He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is ^(AJ)led astray.

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

¹⁰ And behold, the woman meets him,
    ^(G)dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.^[a]
11 She is ^(H)loud and ^(I)wayward;
    ^(J)her feet do not stay at home;
¹² now in the street, now in the market,
    and ^(K)at every corner she ^(L)lies in wait.
¹³ She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with ^(M)bold face she says to him,
¹⁴ “I had to ^(N)offer sacrifices,^[b]
    and today I have ^(O)paid 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 ^(P)coverings,
    colored linens from ^(Q)Egyptian linen;
¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with ^(R)myrrh,
    aloes, and ^(S)cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹ For ^(T)my 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 ^(U)her 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^[c]
23     till an arrow pierces its liver;
as ^(V)a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.