³ The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey,
    and her tongue is smoother than oil,
⁴     but in the end she is bitter as gall,
    sharp as a double-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead to the grave.^[a]
6 She doesn’t stay on the way of life.
    Her paths wander, but she doesn’t know it.

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command;
    don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
²¹ Bind them on your heart for all time;
    fasten them around your neck.
²² When you walk around, they will lead you;
    when you lie down, they will protect you;
    when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
²³ The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;
    corrective teaching is the path of life.
²⁴ They guard you from the evil woman,
    from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
²⁵ Don’t desire her beauty in secret;
    don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
²⁶         for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread,^[a]
        but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.
²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    and his clothes not get burned?
²⁸ If a man walks on hot coals,
    don’t his feet get burned?
²⁹ So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife;
    anyone who touches her will be punished.
³⁰ People don’t despise a thief if he steals
    to fill his starving stomach.
³¹ But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold;
    he must give all the riches of his house.
³² He who commits adultery is senseless.
    Doing so, he destroys himself.
³³ He is wounded and disgraced.
    His shame will never be wiped away.
³⁴ Jealousy makes a man rage;
    he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.
³⁵ He won’t accept compensation;
    he’ll refuse even a large bribe.

⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
    call understanding “friend,”
⁵     so she might guard you against the mysterious woman,
        from the foreign woman who flatters you.
⁶ When from the window of my house,
    from behind the screen, I gazed down,
⁷ I looked among the naive young men
    and noticed among the youth, one who had no sense.
⁸ He was crossing the street at her corner
    and walked down the path to her house
⁹     in the early evening,
    at the onset of night and darkness.
¹⁰ All of a sudden a woman approaches him,
    dressed like a prostitute and with a cunning mind.
¹¹ She is noisy and defiant;
    her feet don’t stay long in her own house.
¹² She has one foot in the street, one foot in the public square.
    She lies in wait at every corner.
¹³ She grabs him and kisses him.
    Her face is brazen as she speaks to him:
¹⁴ “I’ve made a sacrifice of well-being;
    today I fulfilled my solemn promises.
¹⁵ So I’ve come out to meet you,
    seeking you, and I have found you.
¹⁶ I’ve spread my bed with luxurious covers,
    with colored linens from Egypt.
¹⁷ I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let’s drink deep of love until morning;
    let’s savor our lovemaking.
¹⁹ For my husband isn’t home;
    he’s gone far away.
²⁰ He took a pouch of money with him;
    he won’t come home till full moon.”
²¹ She seduces him with all her talk.
    She entices him with her flattery.
²² He goes headlong after her,
    like an ox to the slaughter,
    like a deer leaping into a trap,^[a]
23         until an arrow pierces his liver,
    like a bird hurrying to the snare,
        not aware that it will cost him his life.

³ Don’t give your strength to women,
    your ways to those who wipe out kings.