7 My son, keep my words,
store up my commands with you.
² Obey my commands, and live;
guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.
³ Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
call understanding your kinswoman;
⁵ so that they can keep you from unknown women,
from loose women with their seductive talk.

⁶ For I was at the window of my house,
glancing out through the lattice,
⁷ when I saw among the young men there,
among those who don’t think for themselves,
a young fellow devoid of all sense.
⁸ He crosses the street near her corner
and continues on toward her house.
⁹ Dusk turns into evening,
and finally night, dark and black.
¹⁰ Then a woman approaches him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
¹¹ She’s the coarse, impulsive type,
whose feet don’t stay at home;
¹² rather, she stalks the streets and squares,
lurking at every streetcorner.

¹³ She grabs him, gives him a kiss,
and, brazen-faced, she says to him,
¹⁴ “I had to offer peace sacrifices,
and I fulfilled my vows today.
¹⁵ This is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you; now I’ve found you.
¹⁶ I’ve spread quilts on my couch
made of colored Egyptian linen.
¹⁷ I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come on, let’s make love till morning;
we’ll enjoy making love.
¹⁹ My husband isn’t at home,
he’s gone on a long trip;
²⁰ he took a bag of money with him
and won’t be back till the moon is full.”

²¹ With all her sweet talk she convinces him,
enticing him with her seductive words.
²² At once he follows her
like an ox on its way to be slaughtered;
like a fool to be punished in the stocks;
²³ or like a bird rushing into a trap,
not knowing its life is at stake
till an arrow pierces its liver.

²⁴ So now, children, listen to me;
pay attention to what I am saying.
²⁵ Don’t let your heart turn to her ways;
don’t stray onto her paths.
²⁶ For many are those she has struck down dead,
numerous those she has killed.
²⁷ Her house is the way to Sh’ol;
it leads down to the halls of death.