The Proverbs

7:1 My son, keep my words,

 And lay up my commandments with thee.

 ^7:2Keep my commandments and live;

 And my law as the apple of thine eye.

 ^7:3Bind them upon thy fingers;

 Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.

 ^7:4Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;

 And call understanding thy kinswoman:

 ^7:5That they may keep thee from the strange woman,

 From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.

 ^7:6For at the window of my house

 I looked forth through my lattice;

 ^7:7And I beheld among the simple ones,

 I discerned among the youths,

 A young man void of understanding,

 ^7:8Passing through the street near her corner;

 And he went the way to her house,

 ^7:9In the twilight, in the evening of the day,

 In the middle of the night and in the darkness.

 ^7:10And, behold, there met him a woman

 With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.

 ^7:11She is clamorous and wilful;

 Her feet abide not in her house:

 ^7:12Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,

 And lieth in wait at every corner.

 ^7:13So she caught him, and kissed him,

 And with an impudent face she said unto him:

 ^7:14Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me;

 This day have I paid my vows.

 ^7:15Therefore came I forth to meet thee,

 Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

 ^7:16I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry,

 With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

 ^7:17I have perfumed my bed

 With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

 ^7:18Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;

 Let us solace ourselves with loves.

 ^7:19For the man is not at home;

 He is gone a long journey:

 ^7:20He hath taken a bag of money with him;

 He will come home at the full moon.

 ^7:21With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;

 With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.

 ^7:22He goeth after her straightway,

 As an ox goeth to the slaughter,

 Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;

 ^7:23Till an arrow strike through his liver;

 As a bird hasteth to the snare,

 And knoweth not that it is for his life.

 ^7:24Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,

 And attend to the words of my mouth.

 ^7:25Let not thy heart decline to her ways;

 Go not astray in her paths.

 ^7:26For she hath cast down many wounded:

 Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.

 ^7:27Her house is the way to Sheol,

 Going down to the chambers of death.