Proverbs · Catholic Public Domain Version
Proverbs 7 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 My son, guard my words and conceal my precepts within you.
1 My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
2 Son, preserve my commandments, and you shall live. And keep my law as the pupil of your eye.
2 Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind it with your fingers; write it on the tablets of your heart.
3 Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call prudence your friend.
4 Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative,
5 So may she guard you from the woman who is an outsider, and from the stranger who sweetens her words.
5 that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6 For I gaze from the window of my house, through the lattice,
6 For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.
7 and I see little ones. I consider a frenzied youth,
7 I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
8 who crosses the street at the corner and close to the way of that house.
8 passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,
9 He steps into shadows, as day becomes evening, into the darkness and gloom of the night.
9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 And behold, a woman meets him, dressed like a harlot, prepared to captivate souls: chattering and rambling,
10 Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.
11 unwilling to bear silence, unable to keep her feet at home,
11 She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house.
12 now outside, now in the streets, now lying in ambush near the corners.
12 Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.
13 And overtaking the youth, she kisses him, and with a provocative face, she flatters him, saying:
13 So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
14 “I vowed sacrifices for well-being. Today I have repaid my vows.
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows.
15 Because of this, I have gone out to meet you, desiring to see you, and I have found you.
15 Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.
16 I have woven my bed with cords. I have strewn it with embroidered tapestries from Egypt.
16 I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us be inebriated in abundance, and let us delight in the embraces of desire, until the day begins to dawn.
18 Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
19 For my husband is not in his house. He has gone away on a very long journey.
19 For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey.
20 He took with him a bag of money. He will return to his house on the day of the full moon.”
20 He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon.”
21 She enmeshed him with many words, and she drew him forward with the flattery of her lips.
21 With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22 Immediately, he follows her, like an ox being led to the sacrifice, and like a lamb acting lasciviously, and not knowing that he is being drawn foolishly into chains,
22 He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.
23 until the arrow pierces his liver. It is just as if a bird were to hurry into the snare. And he does not know that his actions endanger his own soul.
23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
24 Therefore, my son, hear me now, and attend to the words of my mouth.
24 Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your mind be pulled into her ways. And do not be deceived by her paths.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths,
26 For she has tossed aside many wounded, and some of those who were very strong have been slain by her.
26 for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
27 Her household is the way to Hell, reaching even to the inner places of death.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 1:8; Revelation 1:3; Luke 11:28; Proverbs 2:1–7; John 14:23
- 2 Psalm 17:8; Leviticus 18:5; Proverbs 4:4; 1 John 2:3–4; John 14:21
- 3 Deuteronomy 11:18–20; Proverbs 3:3; Deuteronomy 6:8–9; Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3
- 4 Proverbs 2:2–4; Proverbs 4:6–8; Job 17:14; Song of Songs 8:1; Matthew 12:49–50
- 5 Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 6:24; Proverbs 5:3
- 6 Genesis 26:8; Judges 5:28; 2 Samuel 6:16
- 7 Proverbs 6:32; Proverbs 1:22; Psalm 119:130; Proverbs 9:4; Matthew 15:16
- 8 2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Proverbs 5:8; Proverbs 4:14–15; Jude 23
- 9 Romans 13:12–14; Job 24:13–15; Genesis 39:11; Ephesians 5:11; Exodus 12:6
- 10 2 Corinthians 11:2–3; Isaiah 3:16–24; 1 Timothy 2:9; 2 Kings 9:30; Jeremiah 4:30
- 11 Proverbs 9:13; Titus 2:5; 1 Timothy 5:13–14; Proverbs 31:10–31; Proverbs 25:24
- 12 Proverbs 23:28; Proverbs 9:14; Revelation 18:3; Jeremiah 2:33; Jeremiah 2:36
- 13 Numbers 25:6–8; Genesis 39:12; Ezekiel 16:33; Ezekiel 2:4; Proverbs 21:29
- 14 Proverbs 21:27; Leviticus 7:11; Proverbs 17:1; John 18:28; Proverbs 15:8
- 16 Isaiah 19:9; Ezekiel 27:7; Revelation 2:22; Proverbs 31:22; 1 Kings 10:28
- 17 Psalm 45:8; Isaiah 57:7–9; Song of Songs 4:13–14; Exodus 30:23; Song of Songs 3:6
- 19 Matthew 20:11; Luke 12:45–46; Mark 13:34–36; Luke 12:39; Matthew 24:48
- 20 2 Chronicles 2:4
- 21 Proverbs 5:3; Proverbs 7:5; 2 Kings 4:8; Luke 24:29; Psalm 12:2
- 22 Job 13:27; Acts 16:24; Jeremiah 20:2; Acts 14:13
- 23 Ecclesiastes 9:12; Proverbs 9:18; Proverbs 1:17; Numbers 25:8–9
- 24 Proverbs 5:7; Proverbs 4:1; 1 John 2:1; Proverbs 8:32–33; Galatians 4:19
- 25 Proverbs 5:8; Isaiah 53:6; Proverbs 6:25; Matthew 5:28; Psalm 119:176
- 26 Nehemiah 13:26; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Corinthians 10:8; Proverbs 6:33; 1 Kings 11:1–2
- 27 Proverbs 5:5; Proverbs 9:18; Revelation 22:15; Proverbs 2:18–19; Ecclesiastes 7:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Take heed then, brethren, and hold fast the traditions which ye now receive, and write them an the table of your heart.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)