Read the Bible

The Wiles of the Harlot

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

^2 (C1)Keep my commandments and live,
And my ^(F1)teaching ^(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 That they may keep you from an ^(F1)adulteress,
From the foreigner who ^(F2)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 ^(F1)(C1)naive,
And discerned among the ^(F2)youths
A young man ^(C2)lacking ^(F3)sense,

⁸ Passing through the street near ^(C1)her corner;
And he ^(F1)takes the way to ^(C2)her house,

⁹ In the ^(C1)twilight, in the ^(F1)evening,
In the ^(F2)middle of the night and in the darkness.

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

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

¹² She is now in the streets, now ^(C1)in the squares,
And ^(C2)lurks by every corner.

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

¹⁴ "^(F1)I was due to offer ^(C1)peace offerings;
Today I have ^(C2)paid my vows.

¹⁵ "Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence 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, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.

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

²⁰ He has taken a ^(C1)bag of money ^(F1)with him,
At the full moon he will come home."

²¹ With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her ^(F1)(C1)flattering lips she seduces him.

²² Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as ^(F1)one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,

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

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

²⁵ Do not let your heart ^(C1)turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.

²⁶ For many are the ^(F1)victims she has cast down,
And ^(C1)numerous are all her slain.

²⁷ Her ^(C1)house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.