American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
My son, give me thy heart;And let thine eyes {Another reading is, observe.}delight in my ways.
For a harlot is a deep ditch;And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
Yea, she lieth in wait {Or, as for a prey}as a robber,And increaseth the treacherous among men.
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.
Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.
And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit;
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 houseI 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 womanWith 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 bedWith 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.