Textorah

My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

[My] son, keep my words, And hide with thee my commandments.

Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of thine eye.

Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live; And [keep] my words as the pupils of [thine] eyes.

Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart.

And bind them on thy fingers, And write [them] on the table of thy heart.

Say unto wisdom: 'Thou art my sister', and call understanding thy kinswoman;

Say that wisdom is thy sister, And gain prudence as an acquaintance for thyself;

That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words.

That she may keep thee from the strange and wicked woman, If she should assail thee with flattering words.

For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;

For she looks from a window out of her house into the streets, At one whom she may see of the senseless ones, A young man void of understanding,

And I beheld among the thoughtless ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house;

Passing by the corner in the passages near her house,

In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness.

And speaking, in the dark of the evening,

When there happens [to be] the stillness of night and of darkness:

And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.

And the woman meets him having the appearance of a harlot, That causes the hearts of young men to flutter.

She is riotous and rebellious, her feet abide not in her house;

And she is fickle, and debauched, And her feet abide not at home.

Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lieth in wait at every corner.

For at one time she wanders without, And at [another] time she lies in wait in the streets, at every corner.

So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said unto him:

Then she caught him, and kissed him, And with an impudent face said to him,

'Sacrifices of peace-offerings were due from me; this day have I paid my vows.

I have a peace offering; Today I pay my vows:

Therefore came I forth to meet thee, to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

Therefore I came forth to meet thee, desiring thy face; [And] I have found thee.

I have decked my couch with coverlets, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

I have spread my bed with sheets, And I have covered it with double tapestry from Egypt.

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, And my house with cinnamon.

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

Come, and let us enjoy love until the morning; Come, and let us embrace in love.

For my husband is not at home, he is gone a long journey;

For my husband is not at home, But is gone on a long journey,

He hath taken the bag of money with him; he will come home at the full moon.'

Having taken in his hand a bundle of money: After many days he will return to his house.

With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield, with the blandishment of her lips she enticeth him away.

So with much converse she prevailed on him to go astray, And with the snares of her lips she forced him from [the right path].

He goeth after her straightway, as an ox that goeth to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;

And he followed her, being gently led on, And [that] as an ox is led to the slaughter, And as a dog to bonds, Or as a hart shot in the liver with an arrow:

Till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteneth to the snare-- and knoweth not that it is at the cost of his life.

And he hastens as a bird into a snare, Not knowing that he is running for [his] life.

Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and attend to the words of my mouth.

Now then, [my] son, hearken to me, And attend to the words of my mouth.

Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.

Let not thy heart turn aside to her ways:

For she hath cast down many wounded; yea, a mighty host are all her slain.

For she has wounded and cast down many, And those whom she has slain are innumerable.

Her house is the way to the nether-world, going down to the chambers of death.

Her house is the way of hell, Leading down to the chambers of death.