The Proverbs
Chapter 7
1 – My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son,
2 – Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye:
3 – Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart.
4 – Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,
5 – That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words.
6 – For I look out of the window of my house through the lattice,
7 – And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man,
8 – Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the way of her house.
9 – In the dark, when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of the night,
10 – And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot’s attire prepared to deceive souls; talkative and wandering,
11 – Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home,
12 – Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners.
13 – And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent face, flattereth, saying:
14 – I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows.
15 – Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I have found thee.
16 – I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry, brought from Egypt.
17 – I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 – Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear.
19 – For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.
20 – He took with him a bag of money: he mill return home the day of the full moon.
21 – She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the flattery of her lips.
22 – Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds,
23 – Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.
24 – Now therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 – Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with her paths.
26 – For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been slain by her.
27 – Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers of death.
The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.