Mishle 6:23-7:27

Orthodox Jewish Bible

²³ For the mitzvah is a ner (lamp); and torah an ohr; and tokhakhot musar (reproofs of discipline) are the Derech Chayyim (Life Lane);

²⁴ To be shomer over thee, keeping thee from the eshet rah, from the smooth lashon of the nokhriyah (strange woman).

²⁵ Lust not after her beauty in thine lev; neither let her allure thee with her eyelids.

²⁶ For by means of an isha zonah a man is reduced to a kikar lechem; and [another] man’s wife will prey on the nefesh yekara (precious soul).

²⁷ Can a man take eish in his kheyk, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸ Can one walk upon hot coals, and his regel not be burned?

²⁹ So is he that goeth into his eshet re’a; whosoever toucheth her shall not go unpunished.

³⁰ Men do not despise a ganav if he steal to satisfy his nefesh when he is starving;

³¹ But if he be found out, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give hon (substance, wealth) of his bais;

³² But the no’ef (one who committeth adultery) with an isha lacketh lev [of understanding]; he that doeth it destroyeth his own nefesh.

³³ A nega [see Isaiah 53:8 for Moshiach’s nega taken for unfaithful Israel] and dishonor shall he get; and his cherpah (reproach) shall not be wiped away.

³⁴ For kina (jealousy) is the chamat gever (husband’s rage); therefore he will not spare in the yom nakam (day of vengeance).

³⁵ He will not regard kofer (compensation); neither will he be the appeased, though shochad (bribe) be great.

7 Beni (my son), be shomer over my words, and treasure up my mitzvot with thee.

² Be shomer over my mitzvot, and live, and over my torah as the apple of thine eye.

³ Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the luach (tablet) of thine lev.

⁴ Say unto chochmah, Thou art my achot; and call binah (understanding) thy kinsman;

⁵ That they may be shomer over thee and keep thee from the zarah, from the nokhriyah with her smooth words.

⁶ For at the chalon (window) of my bais I looked through my lattice,

⁷ And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the banim, a na’ar (young man) devoid of lev [of understanding, sense],

⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; and he went on the derech to her bais,

⁹ In the twilight, at erev, in the black and dark lailah;

¹⁰ And, hinei, there met him an isha with the attire of a zonah, and crafty of lev

¹¹ —She is loud and soreret (rebellious, defiant); her raglayim abide not in her bais;

¹² Now is she without, now in the rechovot, and lurketh in wait at every pinnah (corner)—

¹³ So she caught hold of him, and kissed him, and with a brazen ponem said unto him,

¹⁴ I have zivkhei shelamim vowed; this yom have I payed my neder.

¹⁵ Al ken (therefore) came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with a bedspread of fine linen of Mitzrayim.

¹⁷ I have perfumed my mishkav (bed) with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of dodim (loves) until boker; let us delight ourselves with ahavim (loves, pl. of intensity).

¹⁹ For the ish (man, i.e., husband) is not b’bais, he is gone a derech merachok (distant journey);

²⁰ He hath taken a bag of kesef with him, and will come back to his bais at the appointed time.

²¹ By her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with the smoothness of her sfatayim she seduced him.

²² He goeth after her and followeth immediately, as a shor (ox) goeth to tavach (stock yard, slaughter-house), or as the fettered to the musar of the fool;

²³ Till a khetz (arrow) strike through his liver; as a tzippor hasteth to the pach (snare), and knoweth not that it is for his nefesh (life).

²⁴ Pay heed unto me now therefore, O ye banim, and attend to the words of my peh (mouth).

²⁵ Let not thine lev turn aside to her drakhim; go not astray in her netivot (trodden paths).

²⁶ For she hath cast down many chalalim (wounded); indeed, many strong men have been slain by her.

²⁷ Her bais is the drakhei Sheol, going down to the chadarim (chambers, rooms) of mavet (death). [T.N. The off-stage character here in chp 7 has been the cuckold. Because of her Ba’al affair, Hashem became the cuckold of Israel even as Hosea became the cuckold of Gomer.]