Chapter 7

The Wiles of the Harlot

1 My son, akeep my words

And treasure my commandments within you.

2 aKeep my commandments and live,

And my 1teaching bas the 2apple of your eye.

3 aBind them on your fingers;

bWrite them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

And call understanding your intimate friend;

5 That they may keep you from an 1adulteress,

From the foreigner who 2flatters with her words.

6 For aat the window of my house

I looked out bthrough my lattice,

7 And I saw among the 1anaive,

And discerned among the 2youths

A young man blacking 3sense,

8 Passing through the street near aher corner;

And he 1takes the way to bher house,

9 In the atwilight, in the 1evening,

In the 2middle of the night and in the darkness.

10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,

aDressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.

11 She is aboisterous and rebellious,

Her bfeet do not remain at home;

12 She is now in the streets, now ain the squares,

And blurks by every corner.

13 So she seizes him and kisses him

1And with a abrazen face she says to him:

14 “1I was due to offer apeace offerings;

Today I have bpaid my vows.

15 “Therefore I have come out to meet you,

To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.

16 “I have spread my couch with acoverings,

With colored blinens of Egypt.

17 “I have sprinkled my bed

With amyrrh, aloes and bcinnamon.

18 “Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;

Let us delight ourselves with caresses.

19 “For 1my husband is not at home,

He has gone on a long journey;

20 He has taken a abag of money 1with him,

At the full moon he will come home.”

21 With her many persuasions she entices him;

With her 1aflattering lips she seduces him.

22 Suddenly he follows her

As an ox goes to the slaughter,

Or as 1one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,

23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;

As a abird hastens to the snare,

So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24 Now therefore, my sons, alisten to me,

And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

25 Do not let your heart aturn aside to her ways,

Do not stray into her paths.

26 For many are the 1victims she has cast down,

And anumerous are all her slain.

27 Her ahouse is the way to Sheol,

Descending to the chambers of death.