Dual Panel1My son, keep my words; store up my commands in your mind.
2Keep my commands if you would live, and treasure my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3Wear them like a ring on your finger; inscribe them on the tablet of your memory.
4Call wisdom your sister, greet understanding as a familiar friend;
5then they will save you from the adulteress, from the loose woman with her seductive words.
6I glanced out of the window of my house, I looked down through the lattice,
7and I saw among the simpletons, among the young men there I noticed a lad devoid of all sense.
8He was passing along the street at her corner, stepping out in the direction of her house
9at twilight, as the day faded, at dusk as the night grew dark,
10and there a woman came to meet him. She was dressed like a prostitute, full of wiles,
11flighty and inconstant, a woman never content to stay at home,
12lying in wait by every corner, now in the street, now in the public squares.
13She caught hold of him and kissed him; brazenly she accosted him and said,
14“I had a sacrifice, an offering, to make and I have paid my vows today;
15so I came out to meet you, to look for you, and now I have found you.
16I have spread coverings on my couch, coloured linen from Egypt.
17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
18Come! Let us drown ourselves in pleasure, let us abandon ourselves to a night of love;
19for my husband is not at home. He has gone away on a long journey,
20taking a bag of silver with him; he will not be home until full moon.”
21Persuasively she cajoled him, coaxing him with seductive words.
22He followed her, the simple fool, like an ox on its way to be slaughtered, like an antelope bounding into the noose,
23like a bird hurrying into the trap; he did not know he was risking his life until the arrow pierced his vitals.
24But now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to what I say.
25Do not let desire entice you into her ways, do not stray down her paths;
26many has she wounded and laid low, and her victims are without number.
27Her house is the entrance to Sheol, leading down to the halls of death.