¹ My son, keep my words, and treasure my commandments within you. ² Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye. ³ Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Say to wisdom, you are my sister; and call understanding your relative ⁵ That they may keep you from the strange woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words. ⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through my window, ⁷ And saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man void of understanding, ⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way towards her house, ⁹ In the twilight, in the evening , in the black and dark night ¹⁰ And, see, there he met a woman dressed like a prostitute, and crafty of heart. ¹¹ (She is loud and stubborn her feet abide not in her house ¹² Now she is outside, now in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner .) ¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him, and with a bold face said to him, ¹⁴ I have made peace offerings today; I have paid my vows. ¹⁵ Therefore I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. ¹⁶ I have prepared 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 comfort ourselves with love. ¹⁹ For my husband is not at home, he is gone on a long journey ²⁰ He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the day of the next full moon. ²¹ With her very pleasant speech she caused him to give in, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. ²² He goes after her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of chains; ²³ Until a dart strikes through his liver; as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life. ²⁴ Listen to me now therefore, O you children, and pay attention to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Let not your heart turn to her ways, don't go astray in her paths. ²⁶ For she has cast down many wounded: yes, many strong men have been killed by her. ²⁷ Her house is the way to hell, going down to the rooms of death.