My son, keep my words,
And lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments and live;
And my {Or, teaching}law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers;
Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;
And call understanding thy {Or, familiar friend}kinswoman:
That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words.
For at the window of my house
I looked forth through my lattice;
And I 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 of the day,
In the {Hebrew: pupil (of the eye).}middle of the night and in the darkness.
And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of a harlot, and {Or, close Hebrew: guarded.}wily of heart.
(She is {Or, turbulent}clamorous and wilful;
Her feet abide not in her house:
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)
So she caught him, and kissed him,
{Hebrew: She hardened her face, and said.}And with an impudent face she said unto him:
Sacrifices of peace-offerings {Or, were due from me}are with me;
This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have spread my couch with {Or, cushion}carpets of tapestry,
With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
I have {Or, sprinkled}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 man is not at home;
He is gone a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him;
He will come home at the full moon.
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;
With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
He goeth after her {Hebrew: suddenly.}straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as one in {The Hebrew is obsure.}fetters to the correction of the fool;
Till an arrow strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,
And attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thy heart decline to her ways;
Go not astray in her paths.
For she hath cast down many wounded:
Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
Going down to the chambers of death.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 7,4 Spr 7,4
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom,And apply thy heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou cry after discernment,And lift up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seek her as silver,And search for her as for hid treasures:
If I have said to {Or, the pit}corruption, Thou art my father;To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister;
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee;Love her, and she will keep thee.
{Or, The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom}Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;Yea, with all {Or, thou hast gotten}thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote thee;She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
Oh that thou wert as my brother,That sucked the breasts of my mother!When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;Yea, and none would despise me.
And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
And it came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou didst suck.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.