Proverbs 7 is the dramatic climax of the forbidden-woman warnings that began in chapter 2. Cast as a first-person eyewitness account, the father describes watching from his window as a naive young man walks past the forbidden woman's house at dusk. She seizes him, kisses him, and delivers a carefully crafted seduction speech (vv14-20). He follows her 'like an ox going to slaughter.' The chapter ends with the father's urgent warning: her house is the road to Sheol.
This chapter is the finest piece of narrative art in the first nine chapters of Proverbs. It moves from instruction (vv1-5) to observation (vv6-9) to character description (vv10-12) to direct speech (vv14-20) to metaphor (vv22-23) to warning (vv24-27). The pacing is cinematic — the father watches from above as the scene unfolds below, giving the reader a God's-eye view of a man walking into his own destruction. The forbidden woman's speech is brilliantly constructed: she begins with religion ('I have fulfilled my vow offerings,' v14), moves to flattery ('I came out to meet you,' v15), then to sensory enticement (perfumed bed, v17), then to the crucial reassurance ('my husband is away,' vv19-20). Every element of her pitch removes one layer of the young man's resistance. Her religious language is particularly chilling — she weaponizes piety to lower his moral guard.
The narrative presents the young man as a passive victim and the woman as the sole aggressor, which oversimplifies the dynamics of sexual temptation. The text does not explore the man's desire, his own complicity, or the social conditions that may have led the woman to her current situation. The focus is entirely on her predatory agency and his naive vulnerability. The description of the woman as 'dressed like a prostitute' (v10) raises questions about the text's attitude toward women's self-presentation that modern readers will want to examine critically.
The scene at dusk (v9) connects to the light/darkness imagery of 4:18-19 — the young man literally enters the darkness. The forbidden woman's speech is the negative counterpart to Woman Wisdom's speech in chapters 1 and 8: both speak publicly, both make promises, both invite the hearer to follow. The ox-to-slaughter metaphor (v22) echoes Isaiah 53:7 ('like a lamb led to slaughter') but with opposite theological valence — here the one led to slaughter is guilty, not innocent. The house-to-Sheol identification (v27) makes the forbidden woman's home an anti-temple, descending to death rather than ascending to God.
בְּ֭נִי שְׁמֹ֣ר אֲמָרָ֑י וּ֝מִצְוֺתַ֗י תִּצְפֹּ֥ן אִתָּֽךְ׃
My son, keep my words and treasure my commands within you.
KJV My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
שְׁמֹ֣ר מִצְוֺתַ֣י וֶחְיֵ֑ה וְ֝תוֹרָתִ֗י כְּאִישׁ֥וֹן עֵינֶֽיךָ׃
Keep my commands and live; guard my instruction like the pupil of your eye.
KJV Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
קָשְׁרֵ֥ם עַל־אֶצְבְּעֹתֶ֑יךָ כָּ֝תְבֵ֗ם עַל־ל֥וּחַ לִבֶּֽךָ׃
Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
KJV Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
אֱמֹ֣ר לַ֭חָכְמָה אֲחֹ֣תִי אָ֑תְּ וּ֝מֹדָ֗ע לַבִּינָ֥ה תִקְרָֽא׃
Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister,' and call understanding your close relative,
KJV Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
לִ֭שְׁמָרְךָ מֵאִשָּׁ֣ה זָרָ֑ה מִ֝נָּכְרִיָּ֗ה אֲמָרֶ֥יהָ הֶחֱלִֽיקָה׃
to guard you from the forbidden woman, from the outsider who makes her words smooth.
KJV That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
כִּ֭י בְּחַלּ֣וֹן בֵּיתִ֑י בְּעַ֖ד אֶשְׁנַבִּ֣י נִשְׁקָֽפְתִּי׃
For at the window of my house, through my lattice, I looked down,
KJV For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
וָאֵ֥רֶא בַפְּתָאיִ֑ם אָ֘בִ֤ינָה בַבָּנִ֗ים נַ֣עַר חֲסַר־לֵֽב׃
and I observed among the naive — I noticed among the young men — a youth who lacked sense.
KJV And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
עֹבֵ֣ר בַּ֭שּׁוּק אֵ֣צֶל פִּנָּ֑הּ וְדֶ֖רֶךְ בֵּיתָ֣הּ יִצְעָֽד׃
passing through the street near her corner, walking toward her house,
KJV Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
בְּנֶֽשֶׁף־בְּעֶ֥רֶב י֑וֹם בְּאִישׁ֥וֹן לַ֝֗יְלָה וַאֲפֵלָֽה׃
at twilight, as evening fell, in the darkness of deepening night.
KJV In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
וְהִנֵּ֣ה אִ֭שָּׁה לִקְרָאת֑וֹ שִׁ֥ית ז֝וֹנָ֗ה וּנְצֻ֥רַת לֵֽב׃
And there — a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a prostitute, with a guarded heart.
KJV And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
הֹמִיָּ֣ה הִ֭יא וְסֹרָ֑רֶת בְּ֝בֵיתָ֗הּ לֹא־יִשְׁכְּנ֥וּ רַגְלֶֽיהָ׃
She is loud and brazen; her feet never stay at home.
KJV She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
פַּ֤עַם ׀ בַּח֗וּץ פַּ֥עַם בָּרְחֹב֑וֹת וְאֵ֖צֶל כָּל־פִּנָּ֣ה תֶאֱרֹֽב׃
Now in the street, now in the squares, lurking at every corner.
KJV Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.
וְהֶחֱזִ֣יקָה בּ֭וֹ וְנָ֣שְׁקָה־לּ֑וֹ הֵעֵ֥זָה פָ֝נֶ֗יהָ וַתֹּ֣אמַר לֽוֹ׃
She seizes him and kisses him; with a brazen face she says to him,
KJV So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
זִבְחֵ֣י שְׁלָמִ֣ים עָלָ֑י הַ֝יּ֗וֹם שִׁלַּ֥מְתִּי נְדָרָֽי׃
'I had to offer fellowship sacrifices; today I fulfilled my vows.
KJV I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
עַל־כֵּ֭ן יָצָ֣אתִי לִקְרָאתֶ֑ךָ לְשַׁחֵ֖ר פָּנֶ֣יךָ וָאֶמְצָאֶֽךָּ׃
So I came out to meet you, to seek your face eagerly — and I have found you!
KJV Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
מַ֭רְבַדִּים רָבַ֣דְתִּי עַרְשִׂ֑י חֲ֝טֻב֗וֹת אֵט֥וּן מִצְרָֽיִם׃
I have spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens from Egypt.
KJV I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
נַ֭פְתִּי מִשְׁכָּבִ֑י מֹ֥ר אֲ֝הָלִ֗ים וְקִנָּמֽוֹן׃
I have scented my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
KJV I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
לְכָ֣ה נִ֭רְוֶה דֹדִ֣ים עַד־הַבֹּ֑קֶר נִ֝תְעַלְּסָ֗ה בָּאֳהָבִֽים׃
Come, let us drink deeply of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with passion.
KJV Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
כִּ֤י אֵ֣ין הָ֭אִישׁ בְּבֵית֑וֹ הָ֝לַ֗ךְ בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ מֵרָחֽוֹק׃
For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a distant journey.
KJV For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
צְרוֹר־הַ֭כֶּסֶף לָקַ֣ח בְּיָד֑וֹ לְי֥וֹם הַ֝כֵּ֗סֶא יָבֹ֥א בֵיתֽוֹ׃
He took a bag of silver with him; he will not return until the full moon.'
KJV He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
הִ֭טַּתּוּ בְּרֹ֣ב לִקְחָ֑הּ בְּחֵ֥לֶק שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗יהָ תַּדִּיחֶֽנּוּ׃
She sways him with her abundant persuasion; with the smoothness of her lips she pushes him over.
KJV With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
הוֹלֵ֣ךְ אַ֭חֲרֶיהָ פִּתְאֹ֑ם כְּ֝שׁ֗וֹר אֶל־טָ֥בַח יָבֽוֹא׃
He follows her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter,
KJV He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
עַ֤ד יְפַלַּ֪ח חֵ֡ץ כְּבֵד֗וֹ כְּמַהֵ֣ר צִפּ֣וֹר אֶל־פָּ֑ח וְלֹֽא־יָ֝דַ֗ע כִּי־בְנַפְשׁ֥וֹ הֽוּא׃
like a deer stepping into a noose until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird rushing into a trap, not knowing it will cost him his life.
KJV Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
וְעַתָּ֣ה בָ֭נִים שִׁמְעוּ־לִ֑י וְ֝הַקְשִׁ֗יבוּ לְאִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃
So now, sons, listen to me; pay attention to the words of my mouth.
KJV Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
אַל־יֵ֣שְׂטְ אֶל־דְּרָכֶ֣יהָ לִבֶּ֑ךָ אַל־תֵּ֝תַ֗ע בִּנְתִיבוֹתֶֽיהָ׃
Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray onto her paths.
KJV Let not thine heart decline to her ways, and go not astray in her paths.
כִּֽי־רַבִּ֣ים חֲלָלִ֣ים הִפִּ֑ילָה וַ֝עֲצֻמִ֗ים כָּל־הֲרוּגֶֽיהָ׃
For many are the victims she has brought down; numerous are all those she has killed.
KJV For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
דַּרְכֵ֣י שְׁא֣וֹל בֵּיתָ֑הּ יֹ֝רְד֗וֹת אֶל־חַדְרֵי־מָֽוֶת׃
Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.
KJV Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.