Chapter 7

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

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  Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.  

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  Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.  

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  Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding [thy] kinswoman:  

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  That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.  

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

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  And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding,  

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

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

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

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  She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house:  

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

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

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  Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows.  

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

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  I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.  

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

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

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  For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey:  

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

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  With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.  

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  He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as [one in] fetters to the correction of the fool;  

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  Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.  

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  Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth.  

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  Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths.  

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

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  Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.  

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