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The Adulteress' Trap

¹ My son, ^(C1)keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.

^2 (C1)Keep my commandments and live,
And my ^(F1)law ^(C2)as the ^(F2)apple of your eye.

^3 (C1)Bind them on your fingers;
^(C2)Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴ Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"
And call understanding your intimate friend;

⁵ In order to keep you from the strange woman,
From the foreign woman who ^(F1)flatters with her words.

⁶ For ^(C1)at the window of my house
I looked out ^(C2)through my lattice,

⁷ And I saw among the ^(C1)simple,
And discerned among the ^(F1)sons
A young man ^(C2)lacking a heart of wisdom,

⁸ Passing through the street near ^(C1)her corner;
And he strides along the way to ^(C2)her house,

⁹ In the ^(C1)twilight, in the evening of that day,
In the ^(F1)middle of the night, and in the thick darkness.

¹⁰ And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
^(C1)Dressed as a harlot and ^(F1)cunning of heart.

¹¹ She is ^(C1)boisterous and rebellious,
Her ^(C2)feet do not dwell at home;

¹² Stepping in the streets, stepping ^(C1)in the squares,
And near every corner she ^(C2)lies in wait.

¹³ So she seizes him and kisses him
^(F1)And with a ^(C1)brazen face she says to him:

¹⁴ "The sacrifices of ^(C1)peace offerings are with me;
Today I ^(C2)paid my vows.

¹⁵ "Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your face earnestly, and I have found you.

¹⁶ "I have spread my couch with ^(C1)coverings,
With colored ^(C2)linens of Egypt.

¹⁷ "I have sprinkled my bed
With ^(C1)myrrh, aloes, and ^(C2)cinnamon.

¹⁸ "Come, then, let us drink our fill as lovers until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with the pleasures of love.

¹⁹ "For ^(F1)my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a journey far away;

²⁰ He took a ^(C1)bag of silver in his hand,
On the day of the full moon he will come home."

²¹ With her abundant ^(F1)persuasions she entices him;
With her ^(C1)flattering lips she drives him to herself.

²² He suddenly follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or ^(F1)as one in fetters to the discipline of an ignorant fool,

²³ Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a ^(C1)bird hastens to the snare,
And he does not know that it will cost him his ^(F1)soul.

²⁴ So now, my sons, ^(C1)listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵ Do not let your heart ^(C1)go astray into her ways,
Do not wander into her pathways.

²⁶ For many are the slain whom she has cast down,
And ^(C1)numerous are all those killed by her.

²⁷ The ways to Sheol are in her ^(C1)house,
Descending to the chambers of death.