¹⁶ It will save you from the unfaithful wife
    who tries to lead you into adultery with pleasing words.
¹⁷ Such women leave the husbands they married when they were young.
    They forget the promise they made before God.
¹⁸ If you go to her house, you are on your way to death.
    What she does leads to death.
¹⁹ No one who goes to her comes back.
    He will not continue to live.

²⁰ But wisdom will help you be a good person.
    It will help you do what is right.

⁷ Now, my sons, listen to me.
    Don’t ignore what I say.
⁸ Stay away from such a woman.
    Don’t even go near the door of her house.
⁹ If you do, you will give your riches to others.
    And the best years of your life will be given to someone who is cruel.
¹⁰ Strangers will enjoy your wealth.
    And what you worked so hard for will go to someone else.
¹¹ You will groan at the end of your life.
    Then your health will be gone.
¹² Then you will say, “I hated self-control!
    I would not listen when I was corrected!
¹³ I would not listen to my teachers.
    I paid no attention to what they taught me.
¹⁴ I have come very close to being completely ruined
    in front of a whole group of people.”

¹⁵ Be faithful to your own wife.
    She is like your own well of water from which you drink.
¹⁶ You wouldn’t drink from streams
    flowing in the city streets or squares.
So be satisfied with your wife,
    not those outside your home.
¹⁷ These things are yours alone.
    Don’t share them with strangers.
¹⁸ Be happy with the wife
    you married when you were young.
She gives you joys
    as your fountain gives you water.
¹⁹ She is as lovely and graceful as a deer.
    Let her love always make you happy.
    Let her love always hold you captive.
²⁰ My son, don’t be held captive by a woman who takes part in adultery.
    Don’t hold another man’s wife.

²¹ The Lord sees everything you do.
    He watches where you go.
²² An evil man will be caught in his evil ways.
    He will be tied up by his sins as if they were ropes.
²³ He will die because he does not control himself.
    He will be held captive by his own foolishness.

³⁰ People do not hate a thief
    when he steals because he is hungry.
³¹ But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole.
    It may cost him everything he owns.
³² A man who takes part in adultery doesn’t have any sense.
    He will destroy himself.
³³ He will be beaten up and disgraced.
    And his shame will never go away.
³⁴ Jealousy makes a husband very angry.
    He will have no mercy when he gets even.
³⁵ He will accept no payment for the wrong.
    He will take no money, no matter how much it is.

⁶ I once was standing at the window of my house.
    I looked out through the shutters.
⁷ I saw some foolish, young men.
    I noticed one of them who had no wisdom.
⁸ He was walking down the street near the corner.
    He was on the road leading to her house.
⁹ It was the twilight of the evening.
    The darkness of the night was just beginning.
¹⁰ Then the woman approached him.
    She was dressed like a prostitute
    and was planning to trick him.
¹¹ She was a loud and stubborn woman.
    She never stayed at home.
¹² She was always out in the streets or in the city squares.
    She was always waiting around on the street corners.
¹³ She grabbed him and kissed him.
    Without shame she said to him,
¹⁴ “I made my fellowship offering and have the meat at home.
    I have kept my special promises.
¹⁵ So I have come out to meet you.
    I have been looking for you and have found you!
¹⁶ I have covered my bed
    with colored sheets from Egypt.
¹⁷ I have made my bed smell sweet
    with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let’s make love until morning.
    Let’s enjoy each other’s love!
¹⁹ My husband is not home.
    He has gone on a long trip.
²⁰ He took a lot of money with him.
    And he won’t be home for weeks.”
²¹ By her clever words she made him give in.
    By her pleasing words she led him into doing wrong.
²² All at once he followed her.
    He was like an ox being led to the butcher.
He was like a deer caught in a trap.
²³     But quickly an arrow shot through his liver.
He was like a bird caught in a trap.
    He didn’t know what he did would kill him.

²⁴ Now, my sons, listen to me.
    Pay attention to what I say.
²⁵ Don’t let yourself be tricked by the woman who is guilty of adultery.
    Don’t join her in her evil actions.
²⁶ She has ruined many good men.
    Many have died because of her.
²⁷ Going to her house is like taking the road to death.
    That road leads down to where the dead are.

¹³ Foolishness is like a loud woman.
    She does not have wisdom or knowledge.
¹⁴ She sits at the door of her house.
    It is at the highest place in the city.
¹⁵ She calls out to those who are passing by.
    They are minding their own business.
¹⁶ She says to those who are not wise,
    “Come in here, you foolish people!
¹⁷ Stolen water is sweeter.
    Stolen food tastes better.”
¹⁸ But these people don’t know that everyone dies who goes there.
    They don’t realize that her guests are deep in the grave.

¹⁴ The words of an unfaithful wife are like a deep trap.
    Those who make the Lord angry will get caught by them.

²⁶ My son, pay attention to me.
    And watch closely what I do.
²⁷ A prostitute is as dangerous as a deep pit.
    And an unfaithful wife is like a narrow well.
²⁸ They ambush you like robbers.
    And they cause many men to be unfaithful to their wives.

³ Whoever loves wisdom makes his father happy.
    But the one who makes friends with prostitutes wastes his money.

²⁰ “This is the way a woman who takes part in adultery acts:
    She sins and doesn’t care.
    She says, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’