[1] My son, keep my words; store up my commands within you. [2] Keep my commands and live, and my instruction 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 “friend,” [5] so she might guard you against the mysterious woman, from the foreign woman who flatters you. [6] When from the window of my house, from behind the screen, I gazed down, [7] I looked among the naive young men and noticed among the youth, one who had no sense. [8] He was crossing the street at her corner and walked down the path to her house [9] in the early evening, at the onset of night and darkness. [10] All of a sudden a woman approaches him, dressed like a prostitute and with a cunning mind. [11] She is noisy and defiant; her feet don’t stay long in her own house. [12] She has one foot in the street, one foot in the public square. She lies in wait at every corner. [13] She grabs him and kisses him. Her face is brazen as she speaks to him: [14] “I’ve made a sacrifice of well-being; today I fulfilled my solemn promises. [15] So I’ve come out to meet you, seeking you, and I have found you. [16] I’ve spread my bed with luxurious covers, with colored linens from Egypt. [17] I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. [18] Come, let’s drink deep of love until morning; let’s savor our lovemaking. [19] For my husband isn’t home; he’s gone far away. [20] He took a pouch of money with him; he won’t come home till full moon.” [21] She seduces him with all her talk. She entices him with her flattery. [22] He goes headlong after her, like an ox to the slaughter, like a deer leaping into a trap, [23] until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird hurrying to the snare, not aware that it will cost him his life. [24] Now sons, listen to me, and pay attention to my speech. [25] Don’t turn your heart to her ways; don’t wander down her paths. [26] She has caused many corpses to fall; she has killed many people. [27] Her house is a path to the grave, going down to the chambers of death.
