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16 delivering you from the adulteress,
    from the immoral[a] woman with her seductive words,

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:16 Lit. foreign; i.e. one whose values are foreign to God’s Law

16 in order to deliver you from a strange woman,
    from a foreign woman who flatters[a] with her sayings,

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:16 Or “makes smooth”

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
    and her speech[a] is smoother than oil.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 5:3 Lit. palate

For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey,
    and smoother than oil is her mouth.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 5:3 Or “palate”

20 Why should you be intoxicated by an adulteress, my son,
    and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?

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20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman,
    and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

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so they can keep you from an adulterous woman,
    from the immoral woman with her seductive words.

A Father’s Warning

For from a window in my house
    I peered through the lattice work,
and I noticed among the naïve—
    that is, I discerned among the youths—
        a senseless young man.
Proceeding down the street near her corner,
    he makes his way toward her house
at twilight, during the evening,
    even during the darkest part of the night.
10 Look! A woman makes her way to meet him,
    dressed as a prostitute
        and intending to entrap him.
11 She is brazen and defiant—
    her feet don’t remain at home.
12 Now she is in the street, now in the plazas,
    she lurks near every corner.

13 So she grabs hold of him and kisses him,
    with a brazen face she speaks to him,
14 “I have given[a] my peace offerings,
    and today I fulfilled my vows.
15 Therefore, I’ve come out to meet you,
    I’ve looked just for you,
        and I found you!
16 I’ve decorated my bed with new coverings—
    embroidered linen from Egypt.
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
    with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s make love until dawn;
    let’s comfort ourselves with love,
19 because my husband isn’t home.
    He left on a long trip.
20 He took a fist full of cash
    and he’ll return home in a month.”

21 She leads him astray with great persuasion;
    with flattering lips she seduces him.
22 All of a sudden he follows her
    like an ox fit for slaughter
        or like a fool fit for a trap[b]
23 until an arrow pierces his liver.
    As a bird darts into a snare,
        he doesn’t realize his fatal decision.[c]

24 So listen to me, my sons,
    and pay attention to what I have to say.
25 Don’t be led astray by her lifestyle,[d]
    and don’t imitate her behavior.[e]
26 For many are the victims whom she has conquered,
    and many are her slain.
27 Her house leads to Sheol,[f]
    descending to death’s catacombs.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 7:14 The Heb. lacks given
  2. Proverbs 7:22 So MT; LXX reads a dog fit for chains
  3. Proverbs 7:23 Lit. realize it is his life
  4. Proverbs 7:25 Lit. ways
  5. Proverbs 7:25 Lit. paths
  6. Proverbs 7:27 I.e. the realm of the dead

In order to guard yourself from an adulteress,[a]
    from the foreigner who makes her words smooth.[b]
For at the window of my house,
    through my lattice, I looked down.
And I saw among the simple,
    I observed among the youth,
    a young man lacking sense,[c]
passing on the street at[d] her corner,
    and he takes the road to her house,
at twilight, at the day’s evening,
    in the midst of night and the darkness.
10 Then behold! A woman comes to meet him
    with the garment of a prostitute[e] and a secret heart.[f]
11 She is loud and stubborn;
    her feet do not stay at her house.
12 Now in the street, now in the square,
    at[g] every corner she lies in wait.
13 She took hold of [h] him and kissed him.
    Her face was impudent, and she said to him,
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me;
    today[i] I completed my vows.
15 So[j] I have come out to meet you,
    to seek your face, and I have found you.
16 With coverings I have adorned my couch,
    spreads of the linen of Egypt;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love making,
    until the morning let us delight in love.
19 For there is no man[k] in his home;
    he has gone on a long journey.[l]
20 The bag of money he took in his hand,
    for on the day of the full moon he will come home.”
21 She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings;
    with her smooth lips she compels him.
22 He goes after her suddenly;
    like an ox to the slaughter he goes,
    and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,
23 until an arrow pierces his entrails,[m]
    like a bird rushing into a snare,
    but he does not know that it will cost him his life.[n]

Reiteration of the Warning Against a Strange Woman

24 And now, my children, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the sayings of my mouth.
25 May your heart not turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her path.
26 For many slain she has laid low,
    and countless[o] are all of her killings.
27 The ways of Sheol[p] are her house,
    descending to chambers of death.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “a strange woman”
  2. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “causes to be smooth her words”
  3. Proverbs 7:7 Literally “heart”
  4. Proverbs 7:8 Literally “at the place of”
  5. Proverbs 7:10 Or “whore”
  6. Proverbs 7:10 Literally “secret of heart”
  7. Proverbs 7:12 Literally “at the place of”
  8. Proverbs 7:13 Or “strengthened”
  9. Proverbs 7:14 Literally “the day”
  10. Proverbs 7:15 Hebrew “thus”
  11. Proverbs 7:19 Or “husband”
  12. Proverbs 7:19 Literally “a journey from far”
  13. Proverbs 7:23 Literally “heaviness,” often referring to the liver
  14. Proverbs 7:23 Literally “it is against his life”
  15. Proverbs 7:26 Or “strong men”
  16. Proverbs 7:27 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld

14 The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
    a man experiencing the Lord’s wrath will fall into it.

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14 A deep pit is the mouth of an adulteress,[a]
    he with whom Yahweh is angry will fall there.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:14 Literally “a strange woman”

26 Give me your heart, my son,
    and keep your eyes fixed on my ways,
27 because a prostitute is a deep pit,
    and the adulterous[a] woman a narrow well.
28 Surely she lies in wait like a bandit,
    increasing those who are faithless among mankind.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:27 Lit. foreign

26 My child, may you give your heart[a] to me,
    and may your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a deep pit is a prostitute,[b]
    and a narrow well is an adulteress.[c]
28 She is also like a robber lying in wait,
    and the faithless among mankind she increases.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:26 Or “mind”
  2. Proverbs 23:27 Or “whore”
  3. Proverbs 23:27 Literally “a foreign woman”