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

1  My son, keep my words, and hide with thee my commandments. My son, honour the Lord, and thou shalt be strong; and fear none but him

1  My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.

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

2  Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.

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

3  And bind them on thy fingers, and write them on the table of thine heart.

3  Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.

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

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

4  Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.

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

5  So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.

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

6  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,

6  For from the window of her house and from the balcony she looked out,

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

7  passing by the corner in the passages near her house,

7  and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,

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

8  and speaking, in the dark of the evening,

8  who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.

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

9  when there happens to be the stillness of night and of darkness

9  He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.

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

10  and the woman meets him having the appearance of a harlot, that causes the hearts of young men to flutter.

10  And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,

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

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

11  unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,

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

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

13  And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying

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

14  I have a peace-offering; today I pay my vows

14  This day I have paid my vows, I have peace offerings with me;

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

15  Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.

15  Therefore I came out to meet you, for I have been waiting to see you, and now I have found you.

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

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

16  I have made my bed upon a carpet; I have covered it with fine linen of Egypt.

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

17  I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon.

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

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

18  Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.

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

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

20  having taken in his hand a bundle of money: after many days he will return to his house.

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

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

21  She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.

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

22  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

23  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.

23  and he hastens as a bird into a snare, not knowing that he is running for his life.

23  until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul.

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

24  Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.

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

25  Let not thine heart turn aside to her ways

25  Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.

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

26  for she has wounded and cast down many, and those whom she has slain are innumerable.

26  For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.

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

27  The ways to her house are the ways to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.