New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 My child, keep my words and store 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 teachings 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 that they may keep you from the loose 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 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 saw among the simple ones, I observed among the youths, a young man without 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 Then a woman comes toward him, decked out like 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 squares, 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 impudent 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 decked my couch with coverings, colored spreads of 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 until 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; he will not come home until full moon."
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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 Right away he follows her, and goes like an ox to the slaughter, or bounds like a stag toward the trap
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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 until an arrow pierces its entrails. He is like a bird rushing into a snare, not knowing 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, my children, 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 Do not let your hearts 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 are those she has laid low, and numerous are her victims.
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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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.