Dual Panel1Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions.
2Do what I say and you'll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight--guard it!
3Write it out on the back of your hands; etch it on the chambers of your heart.
4Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion.
5They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress--that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters,
7Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense
8Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house.
9It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night.
10Just then, a woman met him--she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
11Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home,
12Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
13She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said,
14"I've got all the makings for a feast--today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
15So now I've come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face--and here you are!
16I've spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens.
17My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances.
18Come, let's make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
20My husband's not home; he's away on business, and he won't be back for a month."
21Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech.
22Before you know it, he's trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush
23and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over.
24So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously.
25Don't fool around with a woman like that; don't even stroll through her neighborhood.
26Countless victims come under her spell; she's the death of many a poor man.
27She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.