Day 658 of 730

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?

²No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,

⁵which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be.

⁶Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Lord.

⁷Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.

⁸Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

¹¹so that men shall say, "Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth."

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

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

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.