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Proverbs 7
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Proverbs7

Warning Against the Adulteress
17:1 See ch. 2:1My son, keep my words
and 7:1 See ch. 2:1treasure up my commandments with you;
27:2 See ch. 4:4keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as 7:2 Deut. 32:10the apple of your eye;
37:3 See ch. 3:3bind them on your fingers;
7:3 See ch. 3:3write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
5to keep you from 7:5 See ch. 2:16the forbidden7:5 Hebrew strange woman,
from 7:5 See ch. 2:16the adulteress7:5 Hebrew the foreign woman with her smooth words.

6For at 7:6 Judg. 5:28the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7and I have seen among 7:7 See ch. 1:4the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man 7:7 See ch. 6:32lacking sense,
8passing along the street 7:8 ver. 12near her corner,
taking the road to her house
9in 7:9 Job 24:15the twilight, in the evening,
at 7:9 ch. 20:20the time of night and darkness.

10And behold, the woman meets him,
7:10 [Gen. 38:14]dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.7:10 Hebrew guarded in heart
11She is 7:11 ch. 9:13loud and 7:11 [Hos. 4:16] wayward;
7:11 1 Tim. 5:13; [Titus 2:5]her feet do not stay at home;
12now in the street, now in the market,
and 7:12 ver. 8at every corner she 7:12 ch. 23:28lies in wait.
13She seizes him and kisses him,
and with 7:13 ch. 21:29bold face she says to him,
14“I had to 7:14 Lev. 7:11offer sacrifices,7:14 Hebrew peace offerings
and today I have 7:14 See Ps. 50:14paid my vows;
15so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with 7:16 ch. 31:22coverings,
colored linens from 7:16 [Isa. 19:9]Egyptian linen;
17I have perfumed my bed with 7:17 Ps. 45:8myrrh,
aloes, and 7:17 Ex. 30:23cinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19For 7:19 Matt. 20:11my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
20he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”

21With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with 7:21 ch. 5:3; 6:24; See Ps. 12:2her smooth talk she compels him.
22All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast7:22 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as a chain to discipline a fool
23till an arrow pierces its liver;
as 7:23 Eccles. 9:12a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24And 7:24 See ch. 4:1now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are 7:26 [Neh. 13:26]; See Judg. 16:1-5a mighty throng.
27Her house is 7:27 [ch. 2:18; 5:5; 9:18]the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.