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My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart.
(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

7:2 apple of thine eye. See note on Deuteronomy 32:10.


7:4 kinswoman. The “kinswoman” here, contrasted with the “strange woman” in the next verse, is a further example of the recurring theme in Proverbs of the conflict between Wisdom and Folly.


7:10 of an harlot. Prostitution is said to be the world’s oldest profession; the first reference to it in the Bible is at Genesis 34:31. It is clearly forbidden in Scripture, as are all other sexual practices outside marriage. The references in Proverbs to harlots imply that these were all “strange” women (Proverbs 7:5)—that is, “foreign” women, from pagan lands, whose very religions encouraged these vices. The Israelites had been strictly commanded not to allow their daughters to become prostitutes (Deuteronomy 23:17). Many such foreign women, even if not involved in this sin for financial reasons, had evidently become so addicted to such practices as to constitute serious temptations to those young men desiring to be faithful to God.


7:19 the goodman. This word, often translated “husband” or just “man” is translated “goodman” only here. The context perhaps implies that the relationship was that of a unmarried couple living together, rather than a true husband/wife relationship.


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