7 Follow my advice, my son; always keep it in mind and stick to it. ² Obey me and live! Guard my words as your most precious possession. ³ Write them down,^[a] and also keep them deep within your heart. ⁴ Love wisdom like a sweetheart; make her a beloved member of your family. ⁵ Let her hold you back from affairs with other women—from listening to their flattery.

⁶ I was looking out the window of my house one day ⁷ and saw a simpleminded lad, a young man lacking common sense, ^8-9 walking at twilight down the street to the house of this wayward girl, a prostitute. ¹⁰ She approached him, saucy and pert, and dressed seductively. ^11-12 She was the brash, coarse type, seen often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner for men to be her lovers.

¹³ She put her arms around him and kissed him, and with a saucy look she said, “I was just coming to look for you and here you are! ^14-17 Come home with me, and I’ll fix you a wonderful dinner,^[b] and after that—well, my bed is spread with lovely, colored sheets of finest linen imported from Egypt, perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come on, let’s take our fill of love until morning, ¹⁹ for my husband is away on a long trip. ²⁰ He has taken a wallet full of money with him and won’t return for several days.”

²¹ So she seduced him with her pretty speech, her coaxing and her wheedling, until he yielded to her. He couldn’t resist her flattery. ²² He followed her as an ox going to the butcher or as a stag that is trapped, ²³ waiting to be killed with an arrow through its heart. He was as a bird flying into a snare, not knowing the fate awaiting it there.

²⁴ Listen to me, young men, and not only listen but obey; ²⁵ don’t let your desires get out of hand; don’t let yourself think about her. Don’t go near her; stay away from where she walks, lest she tempt you and seduce you. ²⁶ For she has been the ruin of multitudes—a vast host of men have been her victims. ²⁷ If you want to find the road to hell, look for her house.