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Warnings about the Adulteress

¹ My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.² Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.³ Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,⁵ that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger^(a) with seductive words.

⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice.⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,⁸ crossing the street near her corner, strolling down the road to her house,⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading, into the dark of the night.¹⁰ Then a woman came out to meet him, with attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.¹¹ She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home.¹² Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.¹³ She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him:¹⁴ “I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows.¹⁵ So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you.¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!¹⁹ For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.²⁰ He took with him a bag of money and will not return until the moon is full.”²¹ With her great persuasion she entices him; she lures him with her flattering lips.²² He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap^(a),²³ until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴ Now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth.²⁵ Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths.²⁶ For she has brought many down to death; her slain are many in number.²⁷ Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.