7:1  My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

7:2  keep my commandments and live, keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;

7:3  bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.

7:4  Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend;

7:5  to preserve you from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words.

7:6  For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,

7:7  and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man without sense,

7:8  passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house

7:9  in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

7:10  And lo, a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart.

7:11  She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home;

7:12  now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.

7:13  She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says to him:

7:14  "I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;

7:15  so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

7:16  I have decked my couch with coverings, colored spreads of Egyptian linen;

7:17  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

7:18  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.

7:19  For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

7:20  he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."

7:21  With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

7:22  All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

7:23  till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

7:24  And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

7:25  Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths;

7:26  for many a victim has she laid low; yea, all her slain are a mighty host.

7:27  Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.