15 Heb “sons.”
16 Heb “lad” or “youth.”
17 Heb “heart.” This young man who lacked wisdom is one of the simpletons, lacking keen judgment, one void of common sense (cf. , , , ) or understanding (cf. , ). He is young, inexperienced, featherbrained (so D. Kidner, Proverbs [], ).
18 The verb צָעַד (tsa’ad) means “to step; to march.” It suggests that the youth was intentionally making his way to her house. The verb is the imperfect tense; it stresses continual action parallel to the active participle that began the verse, but within a context that is past time.
19 Heb “way of her house.” This expression uses an adverbial accusative of location, telling where he was marching along. The term “house” is the genitive of location, giving the goal.
20 Heb “in the evening of the day.”
21 Heb “in the middle of the night, and dark”; “in the black and dark night”; “at the time of night and darkness.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

For at the window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice,

and I have seen among the simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man lacking sense,

passing along the street near her corner,

taking the road to her house

in the twilight, in the evening,

at the time of night and darkness.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

At the window of my house

I looked down through the lattice.

I saw among the simple,

I noticed among the young men,

a youth who had no sense.

He was going down the street near her corner,

walking along in the direction of her house

at twilight, as the day was fading,

as the dark of night set in.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

At the window of my house

I looked through my lattice.

I saw among the inexperienced,

I noticed among the youths,

a young man lacking sense.

Crossing the street near her corner,

he strolled down the road to her house

at twilight, in the evening,

in the dark of the night.

NLTNew Living Translation

While I was at the window of my house,

looking through the curtain,

I saw some naive young men,

and one in particular who lacked common sense.

He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman,

strolling down the path by her house.

It was at twilight, in the evening,

as deep darkness fell.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

For at the window of my house,

through my lattice, I looked down.

And I saw among the simple,

I observed among the youth,

a young man lacking sense,

passing on the street at her corner,

and he takes the road to her house,

at twilight, at the day’s evening,

in the midst of night and the darkness.

KJV 1900King James Version

For at the window of my house

I looked through my casement,

And beheld among the simple ones,

I discerned among the youths,

A young man void of understanding,

Passing through the street near her corner;

And he went the way to her house,

In the twilight, in the evening,

In the black and dark night:

Public Domain