Proverbs 7:7–27

⁷I was looking at gullible people 

when I saw a young man without much sense among youths 

⁸He was crossing a street near her corner 

and walking toward her house 

⁹in the twilight, 

in the evening, 

in the dark hours of the night. 

¹⁰A woman with an ulterior motive meets him. 

She is dressed as a prostitute. 

¹¹She is loud and rebellious. 

Her feet will not stay at home. 

¹²One moment she is out on the street, 

the next she is at the curb, 

on the prowl at every corner. 

¹³She grabs him and kisses him and brazenly says to him, 

¹⁴“I have some sacrificial meat. 

Today I kept my vows. 

¹⁵That’s why I came to meet you. 

Eagerly, I looked for you, 

and I’ve found you. 

¹⁶I’ve made my bed, 

with colored sheets of Egyptian linen. 

¹⁷I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

¹⁸Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning. 

Let’s enjoy making love, 

¹⁹because my husband’s not home. 

He has gone on a long trip. 

²⁰He took lots of money with him. 

He won’t be home for a couple of weeks.” 

²¹With all her seductive charms, she persuades him. 

With her smooth lips, she makes him give in. 

²²He immediately follows her 

like a steer on its way to be slaughtered, 

like a ram hobbling into captivity 

²³until an arrow pierces his heart, 

like a bird darting into a trap. 

He does not realize that it will cost him his life. 

²⁴Now, sons, 

listen to me. 

Pay attention to the words from my mouth. 

²⁵Do not let your heart be turned to her ways. 

Do not wander onto her paths, 

²⁶because she has brought down many victims, 

and she has killed all too many. 

²⁷Her home is the way to hell 

and leads to the darkest vaults of death.