Proverbs 7

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 My son, keep my words, and treasure my commands.	1 My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
2 Keep my commands and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye;	2 Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.	3 Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
4 Say to Wisdom, "You are my sister!" call Understanding, "Friend!"	4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
5 That they may keep you from another's wife, from the adulteress with her smooth words.	5 So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
6 For at the window of my house, through my lattice I looked out--	6 For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
7 And I saw among the simple ones, I observed among the young men, a youth with no sense,	7 and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
8 Going along the street near the corner, then walking in the direction of her house--	8 who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
9 In the twilight, at dusk of day, at the time of the dark of night.	9 He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
10 And lo! the woman comes to meet him, robed like a harlot, with secret designs--	10 And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
11 She is fickle and unruly, in her home her feet cannot rest;	11 unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the open squares, and at every corner she lurks in ambush--	12 now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
13 When she seizes him, she kisses him, and with an impudent look says to him:	13 And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
14 "I owed peace offerings, and today I have fulfilled my vows;	14 “I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
15 So I came out to meet you, to look for you, and I have found you!	15 Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.
16 With coverlets I have spread my couch, with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen;	16 I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.	17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
18 "Come, let us drink our fill of love, until morning, let us feast on love!	18 Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
19 For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey;	19 For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
20 A bag of money he took with him, not till the full moon will he return home."	20 He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
21 She wins him over by her repeated urging, with her smooth lips she leads him astray;	21 She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
22 He follows her stupidly, like an ox that is led to slaughter; Like a stag that minces toward the net,	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,
23 till an arrow pierces its liver; Like a bird that rushes into a snare, unaware that its life is at stake.	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.
24 So now, O children, listen to me, be attentive to the words of my mouth!	24 Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn to her ways, go not astray in her paths;	25 Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
26 For many are those she has struck down dead, numerous, those she has slain.	26 For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
27 Her house is made up of ways to the nether world, leading down into the chambers of death.	27 Her household is the way to Hell, reaching even to the inner places of death.