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Proverbs 7

1

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

2

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

3

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

4

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

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5

That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

6

For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,

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

8

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

9

In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:

1
10

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

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11

(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:

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Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)

13

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

14

I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.

15

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

16

I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen 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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19

For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:

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He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.

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With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

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22

He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

23

Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

24

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

25

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

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26

For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

27

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

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Proverbs 7

Chapter 7 presents the final and most elaborate narrative warning against the adulteress, framing it as the father's account of witnessing a young fool being led astray by a seductive woman through cunning words and calculated appearance. The narrative unfolds like a short story: the father observes from his window a naive youth, lacking sense, encountering a woman whose demeanor is bold and restless, whose feet do not stay at home, who makes a calculated approach with flattery and commitment-language ("I am yours"), and who gradually leads him toward her house and her bed. The woman's calculated performance—her enticing speech, her claim that her husband is away, her invocation of pleasure and intimacy—demonstrates that the temptress's power is not raw force but seduction, the corruption of desire and good judgment through flattery and false promises, making clear that sexual sin is fundamentally about deception and the manipulation of desire. The chapter's climactic moment—the fool following her "as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag prancing into a net"—invokes animal imagery to suggest that the victim has lost his rational agency and humanity, enslaved by unchecked desire and susceptibility to flattery, a sobering portrait of how sin works through the passions. As the conclusion of the adulteress sequence (chapters 5-7), this chapter confirms that sexual covenant-breaking is the most dangerous temptation the young man faces, requiring concrete vigilance and resistance, not mere intellectual assent to wisdom's superiority.

Proverbs 7:1

The sixth discourse opens: My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep and store up emphasize internalization. The commands must become interior possessions, not external impositions. This opening parallels earlier discourses: wisdom is transmitted through the father-son relationship and must be actively received and retained. The father is gathering his pedagogical work toward conclusions and deepening commitments.

Proverbs 7:2

Living by instruction: Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Keep my commands and you will live establishes the life-or-death stakes. Guard my teachings as the apple of your eye employs the most precious metaphor: the pupil of the eye, which requires constant protection. The young person is called to protect wisdom with the same vigilance he would protect his own vision. Vision is precious; wisdom is as precious as vision.

Proverbs 7:3

Binding instruction: Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Bind them on your fingers makes wisdom visible in ones actions. Write them on the tablet of your heart makes it interior. The young person must embody wisdom in both visible conduct and hidden intention. This parallelism emphasizes integration: outer and inner life should both reflect commitment to wisdom.

Proverbs 7:4

Wisdom as kinship: Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and to insight, You are my relative. The address to wisdom and insight personifies them as family members. This intimate relation sister, relative indicates that wisdom should become as close as family bonds. The young person is invited to form an intimate, familial relationship with wisdom itself. This goes beyond merely following rules to developing a personal relationship with wisdom as a guiding presence.

Proverbs 7:5

Protection through wisdom: They will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words. The protective function of wisdom is explicitly stated: it will keep you from the adulteress. If wisdom becomes an interior presence, a familial relation, it will serve as an inner guardian protecting against seduction. The young man will have internalized wisdoms voice and will hear it even when tempted. This represents the deepest level of moral formation: the internalization of wisdom as an interior guide.

Proverbs 7:6

An exemplary scene: At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youth, a young man lacking sense. The father narrates a scene he has witnessed. At the window of my house positions him as an observer of what happens in the community. He has noticed a young man lacking sense. This sets up a specific example meant to teach through narrative. The young person the father addresses can see himself in this foolish youth.

Proverbs 7:7

His folly: He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house. The young mans movement is described: going down the street, near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house. His path takes him near the adulteress's house. The implication is that he has not avoided her but drifted into proximity. The narrative illustrates the danger of positioning oneself near temptation despite awareness of the danger.

Proverbs 7:8

The womans approach: at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. The timing is significant: twilight, dark of night. Darkness provides cover; evil prefers the concealment of darkness. The young man encounters the adulteress in circumstances designed to obscure and isolate. This detail emphasizes that temptation often comes in circumstances that make clear thinking difficult at vulnerable moments, in situations lacking witnesses.

Proverbs 7:9

Her presentation: Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home. The woman comes to meet him deliberately she has positioned herself to intercept. Dressed like a prostitute indicates she has prepared herself to be visually seductive. Crafty intent means calculated purpose. The description emphasizes that this is not a chance encounter but a carefully orchestrated seduction. The parenthetical statement her feet never stay at home indicates that she does not fulfill the role of a settled wife but rather wanders, seeking prey.

Proverbs 7:10

Her characteristics: Now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks. Her habitual pattern is to be in public places. Lurks suggests she positions herself to intercept men. She is not home with her own household but constantly in public, seeking to seduce. This characterization indicates that the adulteress is defined by her unfaithfulness and her predatory seeking of men. She is enslaved to her appetites and commits others to her ruin.

Proverbs 7:11

Her seduction: She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, lets drink our fill of love until morning; lets enjoy ourselves with love. The woman takes the initiative: took hold of him, kissed him. Her approach is physical and forward. Her words are seductive: perfumed bed, drinking of love, morning indulgence. The speech emphasizes pleasure and indulgence without restraint. Her words paint a picture of sensory gratification. The young man being seduced in this narrative is presented with exactly what a young mans desires crave.

Proverbs 7:12

Her deception: My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon. The woman presents circumstances that seem to permit the sin: the husband is absent and will not return soon. She provides temporal assurance. The mention of purse filled with money may suggest that the husband is wealthy and traveling on business. The lie of circumstance is part of the seduction: the young man is led to believe the encounter poses no real risk. In fact, of course, it poses the greatest risk the risk of covenant violation and destruction.

Proverbs 7:13

His vulnerability: With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. Persuasive words and smooth talk are the means of seduction. The woman's language is carefully crafted to appeal and persuade. The young man is led astray, moving from the right path. The narrative emphasizes that he is seduced through words, through the power of speech to reshape desire and judgment. The implication is that if his inner wisdom had been strong, he would have recognized the seduction.

Proverbs 7:14

His enslavement: All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose; like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. The similes are vivid: like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose, like a bird darting into a snare. These images of animals marching unknowingly to death indicate that the young man is oblivious to the consequences. He is following desire without understanding where it leads. The tragic final phrase little knowing it will cost him his life emphasizes the blindness: he does not recognize that he is moving toward death.

Proverbs 7:15

Therefore I have come out to meet you, eager for your face and delighted to find you, presenting the foreign woman's seductive assertion that she has gone out specifically seeking this man for intimate encounter. Her words promise that she desires him uniquely and personally, leveraging the human longing for being chosen and desired. This verse exemplifies the flattery and false intimacy through which the wayward woman operates, creating the illusion of genuine connection where only predation exists. The language of eager seeking activates the young man's vulnerability to feeling valued and selected, illustrating how seduction exploits deep human needs through deceptive representation.

Proverbs 7:16

I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linens of Egyptian linen, announcing her deliberate preparations and the luxury of her setting as further inducement to transgression. This verse details the woman's creation of an environment designed to seduce, using wealth and sensory appeal to create an atmosphere of exclusive luxury that appeals to desire for both pleasure and status. The specificity of Egyptian linen emphasizes the exotic and costly nature of her preparations, suggesting a level of investment in seduction that paradoxically reveals her predatory intention. The verse illustrates how the foreign woman uses material provision and sensory pleasure as instruments of seduction, appealing not merely to lust but to desire for validation through privileged access.

Proverbs 7:17

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon, layering sensory appeal through expensive aromatics that further elaborate the luxurious environment designed for seduction. The accumulation of expensive spices suggests both wealth and intentional preparation, revealing that the woman's seduction is calculated and deliberate rather than spontaneous passion. The sensory dimension of this verse—smell as one of the most powerful triggers of emotion and desire—reveals the sophistication of seduction's psychological operation. Each element of her preparation serves to create immersive experience that overwhelms rational resistance through sensory pleasure, illustrating wisdom's recognition of how transgression operates through the bodily senses.

Proverbs 7:18

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us delight ourselves with caresses—the woman's direct proposal of extended intimate encounter, framing transgression as mutual pleasure without consequence or limitation. The promise of indulgence until morning suggests stolen time beyond normal boundaries, creating a sense of special exception and secrecy that appeals to the transgressor's fantasy of hidden escape from normal constraints. The language of

Proverbs 7:19

For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey—the woman's disclosure that removes a practical barrier to transgression by announcing the absence of oversight or discovery. This statement, presented as factual circumstance rather than permission, creates the illusion that transgression can occur safely hidden from consequences through the husband's temporary absence. The verse illustrates how seduction operates by removing external checks on behavior, creating a false sense of consequence-free opportunity. By emphasizing the husband's distance, the woman appeals to the young man's sense that transgression can be contained and hidden, directly contradicting wisdom's assertion that wrongdoing cannot be concealed.

Proverbs 7:20

He has taken a purse of money with him; he will not come home until full moon—elaborating on the husband's extended absence with specific details that create confidence in the security of the opportunity. The financial detail and lunar marker provide concrete temporal orientation that transforms abstract possibility into seemingly reliable opportunity. The woman's precision suggests either genuine knowledge or practiced deception designed to create confidence, illustrating her calculated manipulation. This verse emphasizes how seduction operates by creating detailed plausibility that obscures the transgressor's actual ignorance of future consequence, making him believe he can control and conceal what will inevitably be revealed.

Proverbs 7:21

With much seductive speech she persuades him, with flattering lips she compels him—identifying the primary mechanism through which the foreign woman operates as rhetorical: flattery and alluring words that override rational judgment. The accumulation of her persuasive techniques—seductive speech, flattering lips, elaborate preparations, sensory environment, and appeal to pleasure—reveals that seduction is a comprehensive assault on the young man's judgment and resistance. The verb

Proverbs 7:22

All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught in fetters—the young man's movement from seduction toward transgression, compared to an animal unknowingly approaching its own destruction. This stark comparison reveals the truth that wisdom perceives: the seduced man moves toward destruction in the very act he believes leads to pleasure, precisely paralleling an animal's ignorance of slaughter. The dual imagery—the ox moving toward slaughter and the stag caught in restraints—suggests entrapment and the loss of freedom and life. This verse marks the transition from seduction's promises to the reality of consequence, revealing the gap between the transgressor's perception and wisdom's truth.

Proverbs 7:23

Until an arrow pierces his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, and he does not know that it will cost him his life—the violent imagery of sudden, fatal consequence that overtakes the transgressor. The arrow's piercing and the bird's entrapment create images of pain and death rather than pleasure, inverting the woman's promises entirely. The crucial phrase

Proverbs 7:24

Therefore, children, listen to me, and pay attention to the words of my mouth—the teacher's urgent call to the young to receive the warning embedded in the preceding narrative. This direct address reorients the passage toward its pedagogical purpose: not merely to describe seduction but to shape the listener's perception and resistance through exposure to the foreign woman's methods and transgression's consequences. The imperative to listen and attend emphasizes that wisdom's transmission requires active reception rather than passive consumption. By calling listeners

Proverbs 7:25

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not go astray in her paths—the explicit command to maintain inner orientation away from the seductress and her way of life. This verse reorients the battle for integrity from the external (whether to visit the woman) to the internal (whether to allow one's heart to turn toward her). The differentiation between

Proverbs 7:26

For many a victim has she brought down; her slain are a mighty multitude—positioning the seductress as a predator whose destructiveness extends across generations and numbers. This verse reveals that the foreign woman is not an isolated temptation but a force of organized destruction that has claimed numerous victims before the young man and will claim many after. The language of

Proverbs 7:27

Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death—the final revelation that the seductress's dwelling itself represents the path to death and the underworld. This culminating image reframes the woman's attractive house with its perfumed bed and luxurious furnishings as actually a gateway to death itself, inverting all the sensory and material appeals of earlier verses. The double image—both the path to Sheol and the chambers of death—emphasizes the finality and completeness of the destruction that awaits the transgressor. This verse closes the warning by revealing that the foreign woman's seduction leads not merely to social disgrace or household disruption but to the annihilation of life itself.