Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice.

On a {busy corner} she cries out, at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:

if you seek her like silver and search her out {like treasure},

[in order] to deliver you from a strange woman, from a foreign woman [who] flatters [with] her sayings,

she who forsakes the partner of her youth and has forgotten the covenant of her God,

for her house sinks to death, and to the dead are her paths.

[Of] all who go to her, none shall return, nor do they reach paths of life.

For her income is better than the income of silver, and her revenue than [that of] gold.

She is more precious than rubies, and all your desires shall not compare with her.

Length of days [is] in her right hand; in her left hand [are] riches and honor.

Her ways [are] ways of pleasantness, and all her paths [are] peace.

She is a tree of life for those who seize her; those who take hold of her are considered happy.

Do not forsake her--then she will guard you; love her and she will keep you.

Cherish her and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

Seize the instruction! Do not let go! Guard her, for she is your life.

For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey, and smoother than oil is her mouth.

But her end is bitter as the wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down [to] death; her steps take hold [of] Sheol.

She does not observe the path of life; her ways wander, [and] she does not know [it].

Keep your paths far from her, and do not go near to the door of her house,

[She is] a deer of love and a doe of grace; may her breasts satisfy you {always}; by her love may you be intoxicated continually.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart; may she not capture you with her eyelashes.

Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor, any who touches her shall not go unpunished.

[In order] to guard yourself from {an adulteress}, from the foreigner who {makes her words smooth}.

passing on the street {at} her corner, and he takes the road [to] her house,

She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay at her house.

She took hold of him and kissed him. Her face was impudent, and she said to him,

She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings; with her smooth lips she compels him.

He goes after her suddenly; like an ox to the slaughter he goes, and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,

May your heart not turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her path.

For many slain she has laid low, and countless [are] all of her killings.

The ways of Sheol [are] her house, descending to chambers of death.

For wisdom is better than jewels, and all desires shall not compare with her.

Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.

She has slaughtered her slaughtering, mixed her wine, [and] also set her table.

She has sent her servant girls, she calls upon the wings of the high places of town,

"Whoever [is] simple, let him turn here." As for the one who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

She sits at the door of her house, upon a throne [at the] high places of town,

"Whoever is simple, may he turn here!" As for he who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

But he does not know that the dead [are] there, in the depths of Sheol [are] her guests.

A woman of strength [is] the crown of her master, but like rot in his bones is she who brings shame.

The {wisest of women} builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her hands.

A grief to his father [is] the child of a fool, and bitterness to her who bore him.

Death and life [are] in the {power} of the tongue, and those who love her will eat of her fruit.

For [it is] better [that] he say to you, "Ascend here," than he humble you before a noble. What your eyes have seen,

[In] restraining her, he restrains wind, and his right hand will grasp oil.

By the rebellion of a land, her rulers increase, but by a person of intelligence who knows justice, it will last.

This is the way of a woman committing adultery: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says "I have not done wrong."

under an unloved woman when she gets married, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.

A woman of excellence, who will find? For her worth [is] far more than precious jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her, and gain he will not lack.

She does him good, but not harm all the days of her life.

She seeks wool and flax, and she works with the diligence of {her hands}.

She is like the ships of a merchant; from far off she brings her food;

And she arises while [it is] still night, and gives food to her household, and tasks to her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it, from the fruit of {her hand} she plants a vineyard.

She girds her waist in strength, and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise [is] good; her lamp does not go out in the night.

Her hands she puts onto the distaff, and her palms hold a spindle.

Her palm she opens to the poor, and her hand she reaches [out] to the needy.

She does not fear for her house [when] it snows, for {her entire household} is clothed [in] crimson.

She makes for herself coverings; her clothing [is] fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known at the gates, in his seat among the elders of the land.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs {at the future}.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and instruction of kindness [is] upon her tongue.

She looks after the ways of her household, and the bread of idleness she will not eat.

Her children rise and consider her happy, her husband [also], and he praises her;

Give to her from the fruit of her hand, and may they praise her works in the city gates.