[1] My son, pay close attention and don't forget what I tell you to do. [2] Obey me, and you will live! Let my instructions be your greatest treasure. [3] Keep them at your fingertips and write them in your mind. [4] Let wisdom be your sister and make common sense your closest friend. [5] They will protect you from the flattering words of someone else's wife. [6] From the window of my house, I once happened to see [7] some foolish young men. [8] It was late in the evening, sometime after dark. [9] One of these young men turned the corner and was walking by the house of an unfaithful wife. [10] She was dressed fancy like a woman of the street with only one thing in mind. [11] She was one of those women who are loud and restless and never stay at home, [12] who walk street after street, waiting to trap a man. [13] She grabbed him and kissed him, and with no sense of shame, she said: [14] "I had to offer a sacrifice, and there is enough meat left over for a feast. [15] So I came looking for you, and here you are! [16] The sheets on my bed are bright-colored cloth from Egypt. [17] And I have covered it with perfume made of myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. [18] "Let's go there and make love all night. [19] My husband is traveling, and he's far away. [20] He took a lot of money along, and he won't be back home before the middle of the month." [21] And so, she tricked him with all of her sweet talk and her flattery. [22] Right away he followed her like an ox on the way to be slaughtered, or like a fool on the way to be punished [23] and killed with arrows. He was no more than a bird rushing into a trap, without knowing it would cost him his life. [24] My son, pay close attention to what I have said. [25] Don't even think about that kind of woman or let yourself be misled by someone like her. [26] Such a woman has caused the downfall and destruction of a lot of men. [27] Her house is a one-way street leading straight down to the world of the dead.
