¹⁶ Wisdom will deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger, who flattereth with her words,

¹⁷ who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God;

¹⁸ for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

²⁰ Thus thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

5 My son, attend unto my wisdom and bow thine ear to my understanding,

² that thou mayest have regard for discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

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

⁴ but her end is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

⁶ Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are wandering, that thou canst not know them.

⁷ Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

⁸ Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house,

⁹ lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel,

¹⁰ lest strangers be filled with thy wealth and thy labors be in the house of a stranger,

¹¹ and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

¹² and thou sayest, “How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof;

¹³ and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

¹⁴ I was almost in total evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.”

¹⁵ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

¹⁶ Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

¹⁷ Let them be only thine own, and not for strangers with thee.

¹⁸ Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

¹⁹ Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love.

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

²¹ For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his doings.

²² His own iniquities shall entrap the wicked himself, and he shall be held by the cords of his sins.

²³ He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly shall he go astray.

²⁴ to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

²⁵ Lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

²⁶ For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought down to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

²⁷ Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸ Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

²⁹ So he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

³⁰ Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.

³¹ But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

³² But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

³³ A wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

³⁴ For jealousy is the rage of a man; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance;

³⁵ he will not consider any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

7 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

² Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye.

³ Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.

⁴ Say unto wisdom, “Thou art my sister,” and call understanding thy kinswoman,

⁵ that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the harlot who flattereth with her words.

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

⁷ and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, 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, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart.

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

¹² now is she outside, now in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner.)

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

¹⁴ “I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.

¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently seeking 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 love.

¹⁹ For the master is not at home; he is gone on a long journey.

²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.”

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

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

²³ until a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteneth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life.

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

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

²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

²⁷ Her house is the way to hell, leading down to the chambers of death.

¹³ A foolish woman is clamorous; she is simple and knoweth nothing.

¹⁴ For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city,

¹⁵ to call passers by who go rightly on their ways:

¹⁶ “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.” And as for him that lacketh understanding, she saith to him,

¹⁷ “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸ But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. The proverbs of Solomon:

¹⁴ The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred by 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 lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

³ Whoso loveth wisdom maketh his father rejoice, but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman: she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, “I have done no wickedness.”