| 1. My son, keep my sayings, and hide my commandments with you. |
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א. |
| 2. Keep my commandments and live, and my instruction like the apple of your eyes. |
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ב. |
| like the apple of your eyes: The pupil of the eye, which is like darkness, like the darkness of night. |
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| 3. Bind them on your fingers; inscribe them on the tablet of your heart. |
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ג. |
| 4. Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and you shall call understanding a kinsman; |
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ד. |
| “You are my sister”: (Draw her near to you.) |
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| a kinsman: Heb. מדע, a kinsman, as in (Ruth 3: 2): “Boaz our kinsman (מדעתנו),” our close relative; i.e., draw her near to you always. |
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| 5. to guard you from a strange woman, from an alien woman who talks smoothly. |
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ה. |
| 6. For from the window of my house, through my lattice I gazed, |
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ו. |
| 7. and I saw among the simple-I discerned among the youths-a lad devoid of sense, |
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ז. |
| I discerned: Heb. אבינה, I discerned and I saw. |
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| 8. crossing the street next to her corner, and he walks on the way to her house. |
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ח. |
| next to her corner: The corner of the harlot and of the pagan house of worship. |
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| 9. In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the pitch darkness of the night. |
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ט. |
| 10. And behold a woman [was coming] toward him, the nakedness of a harlot with her heart besieged. |
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י. |
| And behold a woman: As its apparent meaning. Another explanation: One of the enticers. |
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| the nakedness of a harlot: Heb. שית, as in (II Sam. 10:4): “their buttocks (שתותיהם),” i.e., the nakedness of a harlot. |
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| with her heart besieged: Heb. ונצרת לב. As a besieged city is surrounded by bulwarks, so is this one’s heart surrounded by lewdness and foolishness. |
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| 11. She is bustling and rebellious; her feet do not dwell in her house. |
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יא. |
| and rebellious: Heb. וסררת, turning away from the road. |
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| 12. Sometimes [she is] in the street, sometimes in the squares, and she lurks at every corner. |
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יב. |
| 13. She takes hold of him and kisses him; brazenly she says to him, |
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יג. |
| 14. "I had to bring peace-offerings; today I paid my vows. |
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יד. |
| I had to bring peace offerings: I prepared a great feast, for today I sacrificed my vows and my peace offering. |
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| 15. Therefore, I have come out toward you to look for you, and I have found you. |
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טו. |
| and I have found you: In order that I find you. |
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| 16. I have bedecked my couch with covers, with superior braided work of Egypt. |
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טז. |
| covers: Heb. מרבדים. Garments of freedom and beauty; a similar term is found at the end of the book (31:22): “She made covers for herself.” |
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| I have bedecked my couch: Heb. רבדתי, I have adorned. |
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| with superior braided work of Egypt: Heb. חטבות אטון מצרים, praiseworthy, high quality linen garments coming from Egypt, where linen is common, as it is written in the Book of Isaiah (19:9): “And those who work at flax… shall be ashamed.” |
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| braided work: Heb. אטון. The Aramaic translation of מיתריהם, their ropes (Num. 4:32), is אטוניהון. |
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| 17. I fanned my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. |
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יז. |
| I fanned: Heb. נפתי. I fanned the scent as one fans with a scarf in a perfumery to bring the scent from above down below. Dunash (Teshuvoth Dunash p. 22) defines it as an expression of smoking, which he states has no comparison. |
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| 18. Come, let us take our fill of lovemaking until morning; let us enjoy ourselves with amorous embraces. |
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יח. |
| 19. For the man is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. |
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יט. |
| For the man is not at home: You have seen that the Holy One, blessed be He, has removed His Shechinah and has given all good to the pagans. |
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| 20. He has taken the bag of money with him; on the appointed day he will come home." |
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כ. |
| the bag of money: He has slain the righteous among them. |
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| on the appointed day: Heb. ליום הכסא. At the fixed appointed time, and similarly (Ps. 81:4), “At the appointed time for the day of our festival.” |
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| 21. She swayed him with all her talk; with the smooth talk of her lips she entices him. |
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כא. |
| She swayed him: the one devoid of sense, to her. |
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| with all her talk: with which she is accustomed to familiarize men. |
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| she entices him: from the road. |
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| 22. He follows her immediately-as an ox goes to the slaughter, and as a viper to the chastisement of a fool |
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כב. |
| and as a viper: Heb. וכעכס. This is the venom of a snake. |
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| to the chastisement of a fool: Like a snake that runs quickly as an agent of the Holy One, blessed be He, to chastise the fool who is condemned by the Omnipresent, blessed be He, so does this one run after her until he stumbles on her, and her arrow splits his liver. |
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| 23. until an arrow splits his liver, as a bird hastens to a snare, and he does not know that it is at the cost of his life. |
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כג. |
| as a bird hastens: to run to a snare, and it does not know that the snare was spread out there for the life of the bird. |
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| 24. And now, children, hearken to me, and listen to the sayings of my mouth. |
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כד. |
| 25. Let your heart not veer off into her ways; stray not in her paths. |
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כה. |
| 26. For many are the dead that she has felled, and numerous are all her victims. |
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כו. |
| 27. The ways of the grave are to her house, descending to the chambers of death. |