Study

The False Attractions of Adultery

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My child, keep my words

and store up my commandments with you;

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keep my commandments and live,

keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;

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bind them on your fingers,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

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Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call insight your intimate friend,

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that they may keep you from the loose woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words.

 

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For at the window of my house

I looked out through my lattice,

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and I saw among the simple ones,

I observed among the youths,

a young man without sense,

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passing along the street near her corner,

taking the road to her house

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in the twilight, in the evening,

at the time of night and darkness.

 

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Then a woman comes toward him,

decked out like a prostitute, wily of heart.

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She is loud and wayward;

her feet do not stay at home;

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now in the street, now in the squares,

and at every corner she lies in wait.

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She seizes him and kisses him,

and with impudent face she says to him:

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“I had to offer sacrifices,

and today I have paid my vows;

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so now I have come out to meet you,

to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!

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I have decked my couch with coverings,

colored spreads of Egyptian linen;

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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 morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.

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For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey.

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He took a bag of money with him;

he will not come home until full moon.”

 

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With much seductive speech she persuades him;

with her smooth talk she compels him.

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Right away he follows her,

and goes like an ox to the slaughter,

or bounds like a stag toward the trap

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until an arrow pierces its entrails.

He is like a bird rushing into a snare,

not knowing that it will cost him his life.

 

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And now, my children, listen to me,

and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

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Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her paths.

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For many are those she has laid low,

and numerous are her victims.

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Her house is the way to Sheol,

going down to the chambers of death.