Proverbs 7

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.	1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
2 Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.	2 keep my commandments and live, keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;
3 Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.	3 bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.	4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend;
5 So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.	5 to preserve you from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words.
6 For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,	6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
7 and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,	7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man without sense,
8 who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.	8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house
9 He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.	9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,	10 And lo, a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart.
11 unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,	11 She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home;
12 now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.	12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
13 And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:	13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says to him:
14 “I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.	14 "I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
15 Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.	15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.	16 I have decked my couch with coverings, colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.	17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.	18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.	19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
20 He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”	20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."
21 She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.	21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
22 Immediately, he follows her, like an ox being led to the sacrifice, and like a lamb acting lasciviously, and not knowing that he is being drawn foolishly into chains,	22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
23 until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul.	23 till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.	24 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.	25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths;
26 For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.	26 for many a victim has she laid low; yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
27 Her household is the way to Hell, reaching even to the inner places of death.	27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.