¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman,
Even from the foreigner that ^[a]flattereth with her words;

³ For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil:

²⁰ For why shouldest thou, my son, ^[a]be ravished with a strange woman,
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the foreigner that ^[a]flattereth with her words.
⁶ For at the window of my house
I looked forth through my lattice;
⁷ And I 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 of the day,
In the ^[b]middle of the night and in the darkness.
¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of a harlot, and ^[c]wily of heart.
¹¹ (She is ^[d]clamorous and wilful;
Her feet abide not in her house:
¹² Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)
¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him,
^[e]And with an impudent face she said unto him:
¹⁴ Sacrifices of peace-offerings ^[f]are with me;
This day have I paid my vows.
¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
¹⁶ I have spread my couch with ^[g]carpets of tapestry,
With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
¹⁷ I have ^[h]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 man is not at home;
He is gone a long journey:
²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him;
He will come home at the full moon.
²¹ With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;
With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
²² He goeth after her ^[i]straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as one in ^[j]fetters to the correction of the fool;
²³ Till an arrow strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.