English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
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Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions.
2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple 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," and call insight your intimate friend,
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Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion.
5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.
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They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress - that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
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As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters,
7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
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Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense
8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to 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 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
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It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night.
10 And behold, the woman meets 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 is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;
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Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home,
12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
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Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face 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 sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
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"I've got all the makings for a feast - today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have 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 have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;
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I've spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
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My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
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Come, let's make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
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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; at full moon he will come home."
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21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
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Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech.
22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
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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 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
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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 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
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So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into 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 a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.
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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 Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
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She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.