1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5 That they may keep thee from the woman belonging to someone else, from the stranger who flatters with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement 7 and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night;
10 and, behold, a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart. 11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not abide in her house: 12 Now without, now in the streets, she lies in wait at every corner.) 13 So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I had promised sacrifices of peace; today I have payed my vows. 15 Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves. 19 For the husband is not at home; he is gone a long journey: 20 He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the appointed feast day.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she persuaded him. 22 He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, 23 until the arrow pierces through his liver. He is as a bird struggling in the snare and not knowing that it is against his own life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye sons, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways; do not go astray in her paths. 26 For she has caused many to fall down dead; yea, all the strong men have been slain by her. 27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.