The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions.
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My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within 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; Guard 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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Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,
5 They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress - that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
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That they may keep you from the strange woman, From the foreigner who flatters with her 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 looked forth through my lattice.
7 Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense
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I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
8 Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house.
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Passing through the street near her corner, He went the way 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 of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 Just then, a woman met him - she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
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Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, And with crafty intent.
11 Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home,
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She is loud and defiant. Her feet don't stay in her house.
12 Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
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Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, And lurking at every corner.
13 She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said,
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So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said 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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"Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me. This day 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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Therefore I came out to meet you, To diligently seek your face, 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 carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
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's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.
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 isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.
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He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."
21 Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech.
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With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced 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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He followed her immediately, As an ox goes to the slaughter, As a fool stepping into a noose.
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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Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn't know that it will cost his life.
24 So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously.
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Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention 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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Don't let your heart turn to her ways. Don't go astray in her paths,
26 Countless victims come under her spell; she's the death of many a poor man.
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For she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty host.
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 World English Bible is in the public domain.