Pro 7 | ESV | STEP | My son , keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

Proverbs 7

Warning Against the Adulteress

1 ^aMy son, keep my words
and ^btreasure up my commandments with you;
2 ^ckeep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as ^dthe apple of your eye;
3 ^ebind them on your fingers;
^fwrite them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
5 to keep you from ^gthe forbidden ^{▼▼Hebrew strange} woman,
from ⁱthe adulteress ^{▼▼Hebrew the foreign woman} with her smooth words.
6 For at ^kthe window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7 and I have seen among ^lthe simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man ^mlacking sense,
8 passing along the street ⁿnear her corner,
taking the road to her house
9 in ^othe twilight, in the evening,
at ^pthe time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, the woman meets him,
^qdressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. ^{▼▼Hebrew guarded in heart}
11 She is ^sloud and ^twayward;
^uher feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the market,
and ^vat every corner she ^wlies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
and with ^xbold face she says to him,
14 “I had to ^yoffer sacrifices, ^{▼▼Hebrew peace offerings}
and today I have ^aapaid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with ^abcoverings,
colored linens from ^acEgyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with ^admyrrh,
aloes, and ^aecinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For ^afmy husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
20 he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with ^agher smooth talk she compels him.
22 All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast ^{▼▼Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as an anklet for the discipline of a fool}
23 till an arrow pierces its liver;
as ^aia bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 And ^ajnow, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26 for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are ^aka mighty throng.
27 Her house is ^althe way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.