Proverbs 7:4-23

⁴Say unto wisdom, “Thou art my sister!” And call understanding thy near acquaintance;

⁵That they may keep thee from the wife of another, From the stranger, that useth smooth words.

⁶For through the window of my house, Through the lattice I was looking forth,

⁷And I saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding.

⁸He was passing through the street near her corner, And was going the way to her house,

⁹At twilight, in the evening, At midnight, yea, in the thick darkness.

¹⁰And, behold, a woman met him, In the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart,—

¹¹One noisy and unruly, Whose feet abide not in her house;

¹²Who is now in the streets, now in the broad places, And lurketh near every corner.

¹³She caught hold of him and kissed him, And with a shameless face said to him,

¹⁴“Thank-offerings have been upon me, And this day have I performed my vows;

¹⁵Therefore came I forth to meet thee,—Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee!

¹⁶I have spread my bed with coverlets, With tapestry of the thread of Egypt.

¹⁷I have sprinkled my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with caresses.

¹⁹For the good-man is not at home; He is gone a long journey;

²⁰He hath taken a purse of money with him; At the day of the full moon he will return.”

²¹By her much fair speech she seduced him; By the smoothness of her lips she drew him away.

²²He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the chastisement of the fool,

²³Till an arrow strike through his liver;—As a bird hasteneth into the snare, And knoweth not that it is laid for its life.