The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Message Bible MSG
1 My son, keep my words, store up my commands with you.
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Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions.
2 Obey my commands, and live; guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.
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Do what I say and you'll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight - guard it!
3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
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Write it out on the back of your hands; etch it on the chambers of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister"; call understanding your kinswoman;
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Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion.
5 so that they can keep you from unknown women, from loose women with their seductive talk.
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They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress - that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6 For I was at the window of my house, glancing out through the lattice,
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As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters,
7 when I saw among the young men there, among those who don't think for themselves, a young fellow devoid of all sense.
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Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense
8 He crosses the street near her corner and continues on toward her house.
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Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house.
9 Dusk turns into evening, and finally night, dark and black.
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It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night.
10 Then a woman approaches him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
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Just then, a woman met him - she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
11 She's the coarse, impulsive type, whose feet don't stay at home;
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Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home,
12 rather, she stalks the streets and squares, lurking at every streetcorner.
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Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
13 She grabs him, gives him a kiss, and, brazen-faced, she says to him,
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She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said,
14 "I had to offer peace sacrifices, and I fulfilled my vows today.
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"I've got all the makings for a feast - today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
15 This is why I came out to meet you, to look for you; now I've found you.
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So now I've come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face - and here you are!
16 I've spread quilts on my couch made of colored Egyptian linen.
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I've spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens.
17 I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
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My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances.
18 Come on, let's make love till morning; we'll enjoy making love.
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Come, let's make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
19 My husband isn't at home, he's gone on a long trip;
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My husband's not home; he's away on business, and he won't be back for a month."
20 he took a bag of money with him and won't be back till the moon is full."
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21 With all her sweet talk she convinces him, enticing him with her seductive words.
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Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech.
22 At once he follows her like an ox on its way to be slaughtered; like a fool to be punished in the stocks;
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Before you know it, he's trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush
23 or like a bird rushing into a trap, not knowing its life is at stake till an arrow pierces its liver.
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and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over.
24 So now, children, listen to me; pay attention to what I am saying.
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So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously.
25 Don't let your heart turn to her ways; don't stray onto her paths.
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Don't fool around with a woman like that; don't even stroll through her neighborhood.
26 For many are those she has struck down dead, numerous those she has killed.
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Countless victims come under her spell; she's the death of many a poor man.
27 Her house is the way to Sh'ol; it leads down to the halls of death.
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She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.