The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions.
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My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
2 Do what I say and you'll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight - guard it!
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keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3 Write it out on the back of your hands; etch it on the chambers of your heart.
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bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion.
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Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend,
5 They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress - that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
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to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.
6 As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters,
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For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
7 Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense
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and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
8 Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house.
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passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house
9 It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night.
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in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
10 Just then, a woman met him - she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
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And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
11 Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home,
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She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;
12 Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
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now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
13 She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said,
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She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,
14 "I've got all the makings for a feast - today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
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"I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
15 So now I've come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face - and here you are!
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so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I've spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens.
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I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;
17 My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances.
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I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let's make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
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Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
19 My husband's not home; he's away on business, and he won't be back for a month."
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For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
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he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."
21 Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech.
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With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
22 Before you know it, he's trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush
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All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
23 and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over.
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till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously.
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And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Don't fool around with a woman like that; don't even stroll through her neighborhood.
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Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,
26 Countless victims come under her spell; she's the death of many a poor man.
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for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.
27 She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
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Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
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.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.