Proverbs 7

Listen to Proverbs 7

Warning Against the Adulteress

1 1My son, keep my words and 2treasure up my commandments with you;
2 3keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as 4the apple of your eye;
3 5bind them on your fingers; 6write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend,
5 to keep you from 7the forbidden[a] woman, from 8the adulteress[b] with her smooth words.
6 For at 9the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
7 and I have seen among 10the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man 11lacking sense,
8 passing along the street 12near her corner, taking the road to her house
9 in 13the twilight, in the evening, at 14the time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, the woman meets him, 15dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.[c]
11 She is 16loud and 17wayward; 18her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the market, and 19at every corner she 20lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with 21bold face she says to him,
14 "I had to 22offer sacrifices,[d] and today I have 23paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with 24coverings, colored linens from 25Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with 26myrrh, aloes, and 27cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For 28my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with 29her smooth talk she compels him.
22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast[e]
23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as 30a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 And 31now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,
26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are 32a mighty throng.
27 Her house is 33the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Cross References 33

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Hebrew strange
  • [b]. Hebrew the foreign woman
  • [c]. Hebrew guarded in heart
  • [d]. Hebrew peace offerings
  • [e]. Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as an anklet for the discipline of a fool

Proverbs 7 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.