The Wiles of the Harlot

1 My son, keep my words
          And treasure my commandments within you.

2 Keep my commandments and live,
          And my teaching 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 intimate friend;

5 That they may keep you from an adulteress,
          From the foreigner who flatters with her words.

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

7 And I saw among the naive,
          And discerned among the youths
          A young man lacking sense,

8 Passing through the street near her corner;
          And he takes the way to her house,

9 In the twilight, in the evening,
          In the middle of the night and in the darkness.

10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
          Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.

11 She is boisterous and rebellious,
          Her feet do not remain at home;

12 She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
          And lurks by every corner.

13 So she seizes him and kisses him
          And with a brazen face she says to him:

14 “I was due to offer peace offerings;
          Today I have paid my vows.

15 “Therefore I have come out to meet you,
          To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.

16 “I have spread my couch with coverings,
          With colored linens of Egypt.

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

18 “Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
          Let us delight ourselves with caresses.

19 “For my husband is not at home,
          He has gone on a long journey;

20 He has taken a bag of money with him,
          At the full moon he will come home.”

21 With her many persuasions she entices him;
          With her flattering lips she seduces him.

22 Suddenly he follows her
          As an ox goes to the slaughter,
          Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,

23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
          As a bird hastens to the snare,
          So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
          And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
          Do not stray into her paths.

26 For many are the victims she has cast down,
          And numerous are all her slain.

27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
          Descending to the chambers of death.