Warning Against the Adulteress
1 See ch. 2:1My son, keep my words
and See ch. 2:1treasure up my commandments with you;
2 See ch. 4:4keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as Deut. 32:10the apple of your eye;
3 See ch. 3:3bind them on your fingers;
See ch. 3:3write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"
and call insight your intimate friend,
5 to keep you from See ch. 2:16the forbidden7:5 Hebrew strange woman,
from See ch. 2:16the adulteress7:5 Hebrew the foreign woman with her smooth words.
6 For at Judg. 5:28the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7 and I have seen among See ch. 1:4the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man See ch. 6:32lacking sense,
8 passing along the street ver. 12near her corner,
taking the road to her house
9 in Job 24:15the twilight, in the evening,
at ch. 20:20the time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, the woman meets him,
[Gen. 38:14]dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.7:10 Hebrew guarded in heart
11 She is ch. 9:13loud and [Hos. 4:16] wayward;
1 Tim. 5:13;[Titus 2:5]her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the market,
and ver. 8at every corner she ch. 23:28lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
and with ch. 21:29bold face she says to him,
14 "I had to Lev. 7:11offer sacrifices,7:14 Hebrew peace offerings
and today I have See Ps. 50:14paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with ch. 31:22coverings,
colored linens from [Isa. 19:9]Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with Ps. 45:8myrrh,
aloes, and Ex. 30:23cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For Matt. 20:11my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
20 he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home."
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with ch. 5:3;6:24;See Ps. 12:2her smooth talk she compels him.
22 All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast7:22 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as a chain to discipline a fool
23 till an arrow pierces its liver;
as Eccles. 9:12a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 And See ch. 4:1now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26 for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are [Neh. 13:26]; See Judg. 16:1-5a mighty throng.
27 Her house is [ch. 2:18;5:5;9:18]the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.