¹⁶ to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words,

³ For the lips of the strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil,

²⁰ And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a woman belonging to someone else, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

⁵ That they may keep thee from the woman belonging to someone else, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

⁶ ¶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement

⁷ and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

⁸ passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

⁹ in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night;

¹⁰ and, behold, a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart.

¹¹ (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not abide in her house:

¹² Now without, now in the streets, she lies in wait at every corner.)

¹³ So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him,

¹⁴ I had promised sacrifices of peace; today I have paid my vows.

¹⁵ Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with 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 the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.

¹⁹ For the husband is not at home; he is gone a long journey:

²⁰ He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the appointed feast day.

²¹ With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she persuaded him.

²² He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,

²³ until the arrow pierces through his liver. He is as a bird struggling in the snare and not knowing that it is against his own life.

²⁴ ¶ Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye sons, and attend to the words of my mouth.

²⁵ Let not thine heart decline to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.

²⁶ For she has caused many to fall down dead; yea, all the strong men have been slain by her.

²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

¹⁴ ¶ The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

²⁶ My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

²⁷ For a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸ She also lies in wait as for a prey and increases the transgressors among men.