Proverbs 7
World English Bible
7 My son, keep my words.
Lay up my commandments within you.
2 Keep my commandments and live!
Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”
Call understanding your relative,
5 that they may keep you from the strange woman,
from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6 For at the window of my house,
I looked out through my lattice.
7 I saw among the simple ones.
I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
8 passing through the street near her corner,
he went the way to her house,
9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day,
in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute,
and with crafty intent.
11 She is loud and defiant.
Her feet don’t stay in her house.
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the squares,
and lurking at every corner.
13 So she caught him, and kissed him.
With an impudent face she said to him:
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me.
Today I have paid my vows.
15 Therefore I came out to meet you,
to diligently seek your face,
and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry,
with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning.
Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
19 For my husband isn’t at home.
He has gone on a long journey.
20 He has taken a bag of money with him.
He will come home at the full moon.”
21 With persuasive words, she led him astray.
With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22 He followed her immediately,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
as a fool stepping into a noose.
23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver,
as a bird hurries to the snare,
and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
24 Now therefore, sons, listen to me.
Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways.
Don’t go astray in her paths,
26 for she has thrown down many wounded.
Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,[a]
going down to the rooms of death.
Footnotes
- 7:27 Sheol is the place of the dead.
Proverbs 7
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
7 My son, keep my words; lay up within you my commandments [for use when needed] and treasure them.
2 Keep my commandments and live, and keep my law and teaching as the apple (the pupil) of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to skillful and godly Wisdom, You are my sister, and regard understanding or insight as your intimate friend—
5 That they may keep you from the loose woman, from the adventuress who flatters with and makes smooth her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice.
7 And among the simple (empty-headed and emptyhearted) ones, I perceived among the youths a young man void of good sense,
8 Sauntering through the street near the [loose woman’s] corner; and he went the way to her house
9 In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man’s life].
10 And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart.
11 She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house;
12 Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner.
13 So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him,
14 Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows.
15 So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love.
19 For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey;
20 He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon].
21 With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along.
22 Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or [a]like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle
23 Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life.
24 Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths.
26 For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host.(A)
27 Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 7:22 The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) so reads at this point.
Proverbs 7
Wycliffe Bible
7 My son, keep thou my words; and keep my behests to thee. (My son, remember my words; and keep my commands with thee.)
2 Keep thou my behests, and thou shalt live; and my law, as the apple of thine eye. (Keep thou my commands, and thou shalt live; and my instructions, or my teaching, as the apple of thine eyes.)
3 Bind thou it in thy fingers; write thou it in the tables of thine heart. (Bind thou it to thy fingers; write thou it on the tablets of thy heart.)
4 Say thou to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call thou prudence thy love (and call thou understanding, thy friend).
5 That it keep thee from a strange woman; and from an alien woman, that maketh her words sweet. (So that they keep thee safe from a strange woman; yea, from an unknown woman, who maketh her words sweet.)
6 (For she saith,) For why from the window of mine house, by the lattice, I beheld;
7 and I see little children, that is, fools that have little wit. I behold a young man coward, (and I see fools, who have little intelligence. I behold a cowardly young man,)
8 that passeth by the streets, beside the corner (who passeth along the street, beside the corner); and he goeth nigh the way of her house,
9 in dark time, when the day draweth to night, in the darkness and mist in the night.
10 And lo! a woman, made ready with (the) ornament of an whore to deceive souls, meeteth him,
11 and she is a jangler, and going about, and unpatient of rest, and may not stand in the house with her feet; (and she is a gossip, who goeth about restlessly, yea, who cannot stand still in her own house;)
12 and now withoutforth, now in [the] streets, now beside [the] corners, she ambusheth (him).
13 And she taketh (hold of), and kisseth the young man; and flattereth (him) with wooing cheer, that is, unrestful(ly), and without shame, and saith,
14 I owed sacrifices for health (I have paid my offerings for my deliverance); today I have yielded my vows.
15 Therefore I went out into thy meeting, and I desired to see thee; and I have found thee.
16 I have made (ready) my bed with cords, I have arrayed it with tapets painted of Egypt; (I have prepared my bed, yea, I have arrayed it with coloured tapestries from Egypt;)
17 I have besprinkled my bed with myrrh, and aloes, and canel (and cinnamon).
18 Come thou, be we filled with touching of teats, and use we embracings that be coveted; till the day begin to be clear.
19 For mine husband is not in his house; he is gone (away) a full long way.
20 He took with him a bag of money; he shall turn again in to his house in the day of [the] full moon. (He took a bag of money with him; and he shall not return to his house until the day of the full moon.)
21 She bound him with many words; and she drew forth him with flatterings of lips. (And so she bound him with many words; and she drew him forth with the flattery from her lips.)
22 Anon he as an ox led to slain sacrifice followeth her, and as a jolly lamb and unknowing; and the fool knoweth not, that he is drawn to bonds, (And so at once he followeth her, like an ox led away to be slain for the offering, and like a jolly, and unknowing, lamb; and the fool knoweth not, that he is drawn into bonds,)
23 till an arrow pierce his maw. As if a bird hasteth to the snare; and knoweth not, that it is done of the peril of his life. (until an arrow pierce his belly. Yea, like a bird that hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is done at the peril of its own life.)
24 Now therefore, my son, hear thou me; and perceive the words of my mouth. (And so now, my son, listen thou to me; and understand the words that I speak.)
25 Lest thy soul be drawn away in the ways of her; neither be thou deceived in the paths of her. (Lest thy life be drawn away by her ways; go thou not forth on her deceptive paths.)
26 For she hath cast down many wounded men; and all [the] strongest men were slain of her. (For she hath wounded, and cast down, many men; yea, even the strongest men have been slain by her.)
27 The ways of hell is her house; and pierce(th) into the inner things of death. (Her house is the way, or the entrance, to Sheol/to hell; yea, it leadeth down to the land of the dead.)
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Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
2001 by Terence P. Noble