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