Proverbs 7:1-23 - Warning Against The Strange Woman

¹ My son, obey my words,
and treasure my commands.
² Keep my commands and live;
protect my teachings
as the pupil 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 relative.
⁵ She will keep you from a forbidden woman,
a stranger with her flattering talk.

⁶ At the window of my house
I looked through my lattice.
⁷ I saw among the inexperienced,
I noticed among the youths,
a young man lacking sense.
⁸ Crossing the street near her corner,
he strolled down the road to her house
⁹ at twilight, in the evening,
in the dark of the night.
¹⁰ A woman came to meet him
dressed like a prostitute,
having a hidden agenda.
¹¹ She is loud and defiant;
her feet do not stay at home.
¹² Now in the street, now in the squares,
she lurks at every corner.
¹³ She grabs him and kisses him;
she brazenly says to him,
¹⁴ “I’ve made fellowship offerings;
today I’ve fulfilled my vows.
¹⁵ So I came out to meet you,
to search for you, and I’ve found you.
¹⁶ I’ve spread coverings on my bed—
richly colored linen from Egypt.
¹⁷ I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning.
Let’s feast on each other’s love!
¹⁹ My husband isn’t home;
he went on a long journey.
²⁰ He took a bag of money with him
and will come home at the time of the full moon.”
²¹ She seduces him with her persistent pleading;
she lures with her flattering talk.
²² He follows her impulsively
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer bounding toward a trap
²³ until an arrow pierces its liver,
like a bird darting into a snare—
he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.