7 

My son, do what I tell you,

set store by my commands,

2 

do as I bid you, and you shall live,

keep my directions as the very apple of your eye;

3 

bind them upon your fingers,

write them upon the tablet of your mind.

4 

Say to Wisdom, ‘You are my darling,’

call Knowledge your kinswoman,

5 

that they may keep you from another’s wife,

from the loose woman with her words so smooth.

6 

At the window of her house

she looks out through the lattice;

7 

she notices among the lads

a brainless youth,

8 

strolling along near the street- comer

in the direction of her house,

9 

in the twilight of the evening

or at black midnight.

10 

And there is the woman, out to meet him,

dressed like a harlot, the cunning creature

11 

(restless and restive, she must be out,

she cannot stay at home,

12 

now in the streets and now in the squares,

haunting every corner)!

13 

She catches him and kisses him

and says to him, with an impudent look,

14 

‘I am holding a thanksgiving feast,

for my vows are paid to-day;

15 

so I came out to meet you,

to look for you--now I have found you!

16 

I have spread rugs on my couch,

striped sheets of Egyptian yarn,

17 

I have scented my bed with myrrh,

with eagle-wood and cinnamon;

18 

come, let us take our fill of love till morning,

let us revel in caresses!

19 

For my man is not at home,

he is off on a long journey;

20 

he has taken a bag of money with him,

he will not be home till the full moon feast.’

21 

With her coaxing pleas she persuades him,

with her smooth words she carries him away;

22 

and he is enticed to follow her,

like an ox moving to the slaughter,

like a dog cajoled to the muzzle,

23 

like a bird fluttering straight into the net--

never dreaming its life is in danger,

till its heart is pierced by an arrow.

24 

Now, my son, listen to me,

attend to what I say:

25 

never let yourself swerve to her ways,

never wander on her paths;

26 

for many a one she has brought down dead,

ay, many a man she has slain;

27 

her house is the road to the grave,

it leads down to the chambers of death.”