- 1
- My sonne kepe my words, and lay vp my commaundements by thee.
- 2
- Kepe my commaundementes & my lawe, euen as the apple of thyne eye, and thou shalt liue.
- 3
- Binde them vpon thy fingers, and wryte them in the table of thyne heart.
- 4
- Say vnto wysdome, thou art my sister: and call vnderstanding thy kinsewoman:
- 5
- That they may kepe thee from the straunge woman, and from the forraine woman which geueth sweete wordes.
- 6
- For at the windowe of my house I loked through the windowe,
- 7
- And behelde among the simple people and among the chyldren a young man voyde of wyt,
- 8
- Goyng ouer the streate by the corner in the way towarde her house
- 9
- In the twylight of the euening, when it began nowe to be night and darke:
- 10
- And behold there met hym a woman with open tokens of an harlot, onlye her heart was hid:
- 11
- She was full of loude wordes and redye to dallie, whose feete coulde not abide in the house:
- 12
- Nowe is she without, nowe in the streates, and lyeth in wayte at euery corner.
- 13
- She caught hym and kissed him, and was not ashamed, saying:
- 14
- I had a vowe of peace offeringes to pay, and this day I perfourme it:
- 15
- Therefore came I foorth to meete thee, that I might seeke thy face, and so haue I founde thee.
- 16
- I haue deckt my bed with coueringes of tapessarie, and clothes of Egypt.
- 17
- My bed haue I made to smell of Myrre, Aloes, and Cinamon.
- 18
- Come let vs take our fill of loue vntyll the morning, and let vs solace our selues with the pleasures of loue.
- 19
- For the good man is not at home, he is gone farre of.
- 20
- He hath taken the bagge of money with hym, and wyll returne at the appointed solempne feast.
- 21
- Thus with many sweete wordes she ouercame him, and with her flattering lippes she entised hym.
- 22
- Sodainly he folowed her, as it were an oxe led to the slaughter, and lyke as it were a foole [that laugheth] when he goeth to the stockes to be punished,
- 23
- So long tyll she had wounded his lyuer with her dart: lyke as if a byrde hasted to the snare, not knowing that the perill of his life lieth thervpon.
- 24
- Heare me now therfore O my chylde, and marke the wordes of my mouth:
- 25
- Let not thyne heart wander in her wayes, and be not thou deceaued in her pathes.
- 26
- For many one hath she wounded and cast downe, yea many a strong man hath ben slaine by the meanes of her.
- 27
- Her house is the way vnto hell, and bryng men downe into the chaumbers of death.
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