Proverbs 7:6–27

⁶For at the window of my house,

through my lattice, I looked down.

⁷And I saw among the simple,

I observed among the youth,

a young man lacking sense,^g

⁸passing on the street at^h her corner,

and he takes the road to her house,

⁹at twilight, at the day’s evening,

in the midst of night and the darkness.

¹⁰Then behold! A woman comes to meet him

with the garment of a prostituteⁱ and a secret heart.^j

¹¹She is loud and stubborn;

her feet do not stay at her house.

¹²Now in the street, now in the square,

at^k every corner she lies in wait.

¹³She took hold of ^l him and kissed him.

Her face was impudent, and she said to him,

¹⁴“Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me;

today^m I completed my vows.

¹⁵Soⁿ I have come out to meet you,

to seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶With coverings I have adorned my couch,

spreads of the linen of Egypt;

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love making,

until the morning let us delight in love.

¹⁹For there is no man^o in his home;

he has gone on a long journey.^p

²⁰The bag of money he took in his hand,

for on the day of the full moon he will come home.”

²¹She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings;

with her smooth lips she compels him.

²²He goes after her suddenly;

like an ox to the slaughter he goes,

and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,

²³until an arrow pierces his entrails,^q

like a bird rushing into a snare,

but he does not know that it will cost him his life.^r

Reiteration of the Warning Against a Strange Woman

²⁴And now, my children, listen to me,

and be attentive to the sayings of my mouth.

²⁵May your heart not turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her path.

²⁶For many slain she has laid low,

and countless^s are all of her killings.

²⁷The ways of Sheol^t are her house,

descending to chambers of death.