Wisdom, Your True Love

¹Stick close to my instruction, my son,

and follow all my advice.

²If you do what I say you will live well.

Guard your life with my revelation-truth,

for my teaching is as precious as your eyesight.

³Treasure my instructions, and cherish them within your heart.[#7:3 Or “Write them upon the tablets of your heart.”]

⁴Say to wisdom, “I love you,”

and to understanding, “You’re my sweetheart.”

⁵“May the two of you protect me, and may we never be apart!”

For they will keep you from the adulteress,

with her smooth words meant to seduce your heart.

⁶Looking out the window of my house one day

⁷I noticed among the mindless crowd

a simple, naïve young man who was about to go astray.

⁸There he was, walking down the street.

Then he turned the corner,

going on his way hurrying to the house of the harlot—

the woman he had planned to meet.

⁹There he was in the twilight as darkness fell,

convinced no one was watching

as he entered the black shadows of hell.

¹⁰That’s when their rendezvous began.

A woman of the night appeared,

dressed to kill the strength of any man.

She was decked out as a harlot, pursuing her amorous plan.

¹¹Her voice was seductive, rebellious, and boisterous

as she wandered far from what’s right.

¹²Her type can be found soliciting on street corners

on just about any night.

¹³She wrapped her arms around the senseless young man

and held him tight—

she enticed him with kisses that seemed so right.

Then, with insolence, she whispered in his ear,

¹⁴“Come with me. It’ll be all right.

I’ve got everything we need for a feast.

I’ll cook you a wonderful dinner.

So here I am—I’m all yours!

¹⁵You’re the very one I’ve looked for,

the one I knew I wanted from the moment I saw you.

That’s why I’ve come out here tonight,

so I could meet a man just like you.

¹⁶I’ve spread my canopy bed with coverings,

lovely multicolored Egyptian linens

ready for you to lie down on.

¹⁷I’ve sprinkled the sheets with intoxicating perfume

made from myrrh, aloes, and sweet cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s get comfortable and take pleasure in each other

and make love all night!

¹⁹There’s no one home, for my husband’s away on business.

²⁰He left home loaded with money to spend,

so don’t worry.

He won’t be back until another month ends.”

^21-22He was swayed by her sophistication,

enticed by her longing embrace.

She led him down the wayward path right into sin and disgrace.

Quickly he went astray, with no clue

where he was truly headed,

taken like a dumb ox alongside the butcher.

She was like a venomous snake coiled to strike,

so she set her fangs into him!

²³He’s like a man about to be executed with an arrow

right through his heart—

like a bird that flies into the net,

unaware of what’s about to happen.

²⁴So listen to me, you young men.

You’d better take my words seriously!

²⁵Control your sexual urges and guard your hearts against lust.

Don’t let your passions get out of hand

and don’t lock your eyes onto a beautiful woman.

Why would you want to even get close

to temptation and seduction,

to have an affair with her?

²⁶She has pierced the souls of multitudes of men—

many mighty ones have fallen

and have been brought down by her.

²⁷If you’re looking for the road to hell,

just go looking for her house!