Third Millennium Bible TMB
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
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My son, pay attention to my words. Treasure my commands that are within you.
2 Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye.
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Obey my commands so that you may live. Follow my teachings just as you protect the pupil of your eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.
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Tie them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, "Thou art my sister," and call understanding thy kinswoman,
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Say to wisdom, "You are my sister." Give the name "my relative" to understanding
5 that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the harlot who flattereth with her words.
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in order to guard yourself from an adulterous woman, from a loose woman with her smooth talk.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
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From a window in my house I looked through my screen.
7 and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man void of understanding,
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I was looking at gullible people when I saw a young man without much sense among youths.
8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
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He was crossing a street near her corner and walking toward her house
9 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.
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in the twilight, in the evening, in the dark hours of the night.
10 And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart.
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A woman with an ulterior motive meets him. She is dressed as a prostitute.
11 (She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house;
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She is loud and rebellious. Her feet will not stay at home.
12 now is she outside, now in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner.)
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One moment she is out on the street, the next she is at the curb, on the prowl at every corner.
13 So she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him:
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She grabs him and kisses him and brazenly says to him,
14 "I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.
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"I have some sacrificial meat. Today I kept my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently seeking thy face, and I have found thee.
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That's why I came to meet you. Eagerly, I looked for you, and I've found you.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
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I've made my bed, with colored sheets of Egyptian linen.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
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I've sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with love.
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Come, let's drink our fill of love until morning. Let's enjoy making love,
19 For the master is not at home; he is gone on a long journey.
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because my husband's not home. He has gone on a long trip.
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed."
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He took lots of money with him. He won't be home for a couple of weeks."
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
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With all her seductive charms, she persuades him. With her smooth lips, she makes him give in.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
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He immediately follows her like a steer on its way to be slaughtered, like a ram hobbling into captivity
23 until a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteneth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life.
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until an arrow pierces his heart, like a bird darting into a trap. He does not realize that it will cost him his life.
24 Hearken unto me now, therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
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Now, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words from my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways; go not astray in her paths.
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Do not let your heart be turned to her ways. Do not wander onto her paths,
26 For she hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
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because she has brought down many victims, and she has killed all too many.
27 Her house is the way to hell, leading down to the chambers of death.
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Her home is the way to hell and leads to the darkest vaults of death.
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.