New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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1 My son, keep my words,
store up my commands in your mind.
2 Keep my commands if you would live,
and treasure my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3 Wear them like a ring on your finger;
write them on the tablet of your memory.
4 Call Wisdom your sister,
greet Understanding as a familiar friend;
5 then they will save you from the adulteress,
from the loose woman with her seductive words.
6 I glanced note out of the window of my house,
I looked down through the lattice,
7 and I saw among simple youths,
there amongst the boys I noticed
a lad, a foolish lad,
8 passing along the street, at the corner,
stepping out in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day faded,
at dusk as the night grew dark;
10 suddenly a woman came to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute, full of wiles,
11 flighty and inconstant,
a woman never content to stay at home,
12 lying in wait at every corner,
now in the street, now in the public squares.
13 She caught hold of him and kissed him;
brazenly she accosted him and said,
14 ‘I have had a sacrifice, an offering, to make
and I have paid my vows today;
15 that is why I have come out to meet you,
-- --
Advice to the reader
to watch for you and find you.
16 I have spread coverings on my bed
of coloured linen from Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh,
my clothes note with aloes and cassia.
18 Come! Let us drown ourselves in pleasure,
let us spend a whole night of love;
19 for the man of the house is away,
he has gone on a long journey,
20 he has taken a bag of silver with him;
until the moon is full he will not be home.’
21 Persuasively she led him on,
she pressed him with seductive words.
22 Like a simple fool he followed her,
like an ox on its way to the slaughter-house,
like an antelope bounding into the noose,
23 like a bird hurrying into the trap;
he did not know that he was risking his life
until the arrow pierced his vitals.
24 But now, my son, note listen to me,
attend to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart entice you into her ways,
do not stray down her paths;
26 many has she pierced and laid low,
and her victims are without number.
27 Her house is the entrance to Sheol,
which leads down to the halls of death.
New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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