Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”(A)
and call understanding your relative.
She will keep you from a forbidden woman,
a wayward woman with her flattering talk.(B)

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Say to wisdom,[a] “you are my sister,”
    and you shall call insight,[b]intimate friend.”[c]
In order to guard yourself from an adulteress,[d]
    from the foreigner who makes her words smooth.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the wisdom”
  2. Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the insight”
  3. Proverbs 7:4 Literally “one who is known.” To “know” is often a euphemism for intercourse. Therefore “intimate friend” may also be read “lover.”
  4. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “a strange woman”
  5. Proverbs 7:5 Literally “causes to be smooth her words”

21 She seduces him with her persistent pleading;
she lures with her flattering talk.

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21 She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings;
    with her smooth lips she compels him.

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28 A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

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28 A tongue of deceit hates its victim,
    and a flattering mouth makes ruin.

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23 One who rebukes a person will later find more favor(A)
than one who flatters with his tongue.(B)

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23 He who rebukes a person will afterward find more favor
    than he who flatters with the tongue.

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A person who flatters his neighbor
spreads a net for his feet.(A)

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A strong man who flatters his neighbor
    is spreading a net for his feet.

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