1 My son, pay close attention

and don't forget

what I tell you to do.

2 Obey me, and you will live!

Let my instructions be

your greatest treasure.

3 Keep them at your fingertips

and write them

in your mind.

4 Let wisdom be your sister

and make common sense

your closest friend.

5 They will protect you

from the flattering words

of someone else's wife.

6 From the window of my house,

I once happened to see

7 some foolish young men.

8 It was late in the evening,

sometime after dark.

9 One of these young men

turned the corner

and was walking by the house

of an unfaithful wife.

10 She was dressed fancy

like a woman of the street

with only one thing in mind.

11 She was one of those women

who are loud and restless

and never stay at home,

12 who walk street after street,

waiting to trap a man.

13 She grabbed him and kissed him,

and with no sense of shame,

she said:

14 "I had to offer a sacrifice,

and there is enough meat

left over for a feast.

15 So I came looking for you,

and here you are!

16 The sheets on my bed

are bright-colored cloth

from Egypt.

17 And I have covered it

with perfume made of myrrh,

aloes, and cinnamon.

18 "Let's go there

and make love all night.

19 My husband is traveling,

and he's far away.

20 He took a lot of money along,

and he won't be back home

before the middle

of the month."

21 And so, she tricked him

with all of her sweet talk

and her flattery.

22 At once he followed her

like an ox on the way

to be slaughtered,

or like a fool on the way

to be punished*

23 and killed with arrows.

He was no more than a bird

rushing into a trap,

without knowing

it would cost him his life.

24 My son, pay close attention

to what I have said.

25 Don't even think about

that kind of woman

or let yourself be misled

by someone like her.

26 Such a woman has caused

the downfall and destruction

of a lot of men.

27 Her house is a one-way street

leading straight down

to the world of the dead.