Proverbs Monthly
7 1 An exhortation to wisdom and to the word of God. 5 Which will preserve us from the harlot, 6 Whose manners are described.
1 My son keep my words, and hide my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live, and mine instruction, as the [a]apple of thine eyes.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, and write them upon the table 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, even from the strange that is smooth in her words.
6 ¶ [b]As I was in the window of mine house, I looked through my window,
7 And I saw among the fools, and considered among the children a young man destitute of understanding,
8 Who passed through the street by her corner, and went toward her house,
9 In the twilight in the evening, when the night began to be [c]black and dark.
10 And behold, there met him a woman with an harlot’s [d]behavior, and [e]subtle in heart.
11 (She [f]is babbling and loud, whose feet cannot abide in her house.
12 Now she is without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner)
13 So she caught him and kissed him, and [g]with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have [h]peace offerings: this [i]day have I paid my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, that I might seek thy face: and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with ornaments, [j]carpets and laces 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 take our pleasure in dalliance.
19 For mine husband is not at home: he is gone a journey far off.
20 He hath taken [k]with him a bag of silver, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 Thus with her great craft she caused him to yield, and with her flattering lips she enticed him.
22 And he followed her straightway, as an [l]ox that goeth to the slaughter, and [m]as a fool to the stocks for correction,
23 Till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, not knowing that [n]he is in danger.
24 ¶ Hear me now therefore, O children, and hearken to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways: wander thou not in her paths.
26 For she hath caused many to fall down wounded, and the [o]strong men are all slain by her.
27 Her house is the way (A)unto the grave, which goeth down to the chambers of death.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.