1  ^hMy son, keep my words

and ^htreasure up my commandments with you;

2  ⁱkeep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as ^jthe apple of your eye;

3  ^kbind them on your fingers;

^kwrite them on the tablet of your heart.

4  Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call insight your intimate friend,

5  to keep you from ^lthe forbidden¹ woman,

from ^lthe adulteress² with her smooth words.

6  For at ^mthe window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice,

7  and I have seen among ⁿthe simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man ^olacking sense,

8  passing along the street ^pnear her corner,

taking the road to her house

9  in ^qthe twilight, in the evening,

at ^rthe time of night and darkness.

10  And behold, the woman meets him,

^sdressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.³

11  She is ^tloud and ^uwayward;

^vher feet do not stay at home;

12  now in the street, now in the market,

and ^wat every corner she ^xlies in wait.

13  She seizes him and kisses him,

and with ^ybold face she says to him,

14  “I had to ^zoffer sacrifices,⁴

and today I have ^apaid my vows;

15  so now I have come out to meet you,

to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

16  I have spread my couch with ^bcoverings,

colored linens from ^cEgyptian linen;

17  I have perfumed my bed with ^dmyrrh,

aloes, and ^ecinnamon.

18  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.

19  For ^fmy husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey;

20  he took a bag of money with him;

at full moon he will come home.”