:
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15 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 carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:1
My son, keep my words, etc. And this section is the same as previously explained more fully under the person of the harlot.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:2
And my law as the apple of your eye. Keep what I teach as diligently as if nothing right could be seen without it.

[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Proverbs 7:3
These articles of our faith were not composed out of human opinion but are the principal points collected out of the whole of Scripture to complete a single doctrinal formulation of the faith. And in like manner as the mustard seed contains numbers of branches-to-be within its tiny grain, so also this creed embraces in a few phrases all the religious knowledge contained in the Old and New Testaments together. Look now, brethren, and “hold the traditions,” which are now being imparted to you, and “write them on the table of your hearts.”

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:3
Bind them on your fingers, etc. On your fingers, means in actions; on the tablets of your heart, in the breadth of thought. Indeed, another translation says: Inscribe it on the breadth of your heart.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Proverbs 7:4
It is proper that until we reach maturity, virtue of the soul be within us and personal, but when we reach full maturity so that we are capable also of teaching others, let us then no longer enclose virtue within our bosom as a wife but as a sister, let us unite her also with others who wish her. For to those who are perfect the divine Word says, “Say that wisdom is your sister.”

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:4
Say to wisdom, You are my sister, etc. Join the wisdom of ecclesiastical doctrine to you with fraternal love; so that it may preserve you from heretical defilement, which is proven to be foreign to the chastity of the Church.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Proverbs 7:6-23
In these words, “after many days he will return home,” Paul (who in the spirit perceived the plan of the divine economy) refers to the last enemy which is to be destroyed, that is, death. That enemy is the man of wickedness that Solomon will describe as one who took in his hand “a bag of money,” that is, humanity. When [humanity] sins again and again, it allows itself to disregard the fear of God. It [only] becomes distressed when the human race is brought to the point of trials. Otherwise, if it never envisioned any fear of God at all, it would have perished in an instant.

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Proverbs 7:6-23
She endeavors to steal the hearts of young men—a woman restless at home, a wanderer in the public squares, prodigal of kisses, indifferent to shame, gaudy in her dress and countenance. Since she is unable, indeed, to assume a beauty that is true to nature, she affects what is the opposite to truth—an external show of meretricious arts.… She attacks the citadels of men’s hearts while uttering such words as these as a war cry: “I have vowed victims for peace, this day I have paid my vows. Therefore I am come out to meet you, desirous to see you, and I have found you. I have woven my bed with cords. I have covered it with tapestry from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with saffron and my home with cinnamon. Come and let us wrestle with desire.” Here in the words of Solomon we behold the very picture of a wanton [woman]. What other than worldly pleasure is more characteristic of a prostitute who makes her entrance stealthily into the house, first making tentative explorations with her eyes and then entering quickly, while you concentrate the gaze of your soul outward on the public square, that is, on the streets frequented by passersby and not inward on the mysteries of the law? She has contrived to trap us in a room devoted to the associations of common life by such solid chains that a person, although held in bondage, finds herself at ease there. As she reclines there she covers her body with coverlets of fraud and deceit so as to allure the souls of young men, alleging the absence of a husband, that is to say, her disregard for the law. The law does not exist for sinners, for, if it were present, it would not have been ignored. Hence we read: “For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey. He took with him a bag of money.” What is the meaning of this, if not that the rich believe that there is nothing that money cannot control and that the law is something that can be sold for profit? Pleasure dissipates its fragrance because it has not the fragrance of Christ. Pleasure looks for treasures, it promises kingdoms, it assures lasting loves, it pledges undreamed of intimacies, instruction without a guardian and conversation without hindrance. Pleasure promises a life bereft of anxiety, a sleep devoid of disturbance and wants that cannot be satiated. We read: Entangling him with many words and alluring him with the snares of her lips, she led him even to her home. He was beguiled and followed her.… Everything there was confused and contrary to the order of nature.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:6-23
Uncircumcised in smell and touch are those who are steeped in ointment and various odors, who pursue the embraces of a harlot, sprinkling their bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:6
For from the window of my house I looked through the lattice, etc. Aptly, however, does Solomon say he looked from the window of his house through the lattice, to judge the deeds of the little ones. For one who looks from a window through the lattice can fully consider what is done outside, yet those outside cannot see the one looking within. For this is what the Apostle says: The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself judged by no one (1 Cor. I). From the window therefore, and so on. It is clear according to the letter, that the gaze of wise teachers diligently observes the actions of the weak and the strong; but the eternal wisdom of God looks from heaven, and sees all the sons of men.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:7
I observed among the youth, etc. He calls the adulterer a youth, not because of virtue, but because of instability. Who passes through the street, because he has abandoned the narrow way that leads to life. Near the corner, because he deviates from rectitude.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:8
And walks towards her house. He who has turned from the way of truth, rightly appropriates the way to the house of the harlot or heretic; which is fittingly placed, as we have explained, both in the street and near the corner.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:9
In the twilight, in the evening of the day, etc. Because such a one, through the blindness of the heart, hastens to the darkness, both of sin and damnation.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:10
And behold, a woman meets him in the attire of a harlot, etc. These all clearly relate to the literal sense of harlotry; however, heretical doctrine attempts to deceive anyone it finds careless and foolish. It indeed appears in harlot's attire, because it shines with unclean eloquence. It is prepared to capture souls, for it spiritually kills whomever it can associate with it.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:11
Loud and wayward, etc. Desiring to disturb the peace of the Church.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:11
Unable to remain at home with her feet. There is no heresy content with its first disciples: for they are its house, but it always seeks new ones to deceive.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:12
Now in the streets, now in the squares, etc. Outside, it seizes the pagans; in the streets, the voluptuous; by the corners, other heretics.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:13
And having seized the young man, it kisses him. With the flattery of deceitful words, it tempts the unstable.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:13
And with a shameless face, it flatters, saying, etc. According to the letter, the understanding is evident, because the harlot confesses that she has prepared a magnificent feast. But the heretics in all that they do boast and rejoice that they sacrifice the victims of their salvation to God. For the Lord also said to the disciples: But the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is offering service to God.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:16
I have woven my bed with cords, etc. Beds that are woven with cords, or according to another translation, with withes, are usually softer than those made of wood, leather, or any other material. Therefore, with a bed woven with cords, the harlot designates the softness of resting. And on carpets embroidered from Egypt, she also tempts the allurements of the eyes, with which, by a nefarious sight, she more easily penetrates to seduce the mind’s secrets. But since by the name of cords divine precepts are sometimes figured, which restrain us from our pleasures binding us with religion, the heretics promise their listeners that they are preparing a beneficial bedding with the weaving of heavenly words, in which they may rest with a free heart from the tumults of vices. But in truth, they construct with those cords a pit of perdition, where their feet and hands being perpetually bound, they are condemned. Concerning which the Lord says in the Apocalypse: And I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her fornication. Behold, I throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her will be in great tribulation (Apoc. II). On those embroidered carpets from Egypt are understood the ornament of eloquence and the cunning of dialectic art, which took its origin from the pagans, through which the heretical mind boasts that it has woven the fabric of its evil deed as a harlot.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:17
I have scented my bed with myrrh, etc. They promise that they have such fragrances of heavenly virtues, by which they consecrate their hearts and those of their followers as if in beautiful bedchambers; so that they may say with the Apostle: For we are the pleasant fragrance of Christ to God (II Cor. II).

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:18
Come, let us be drunk with love, etc. The heretics boast that they are sated with each other with the cups of holy doctrine and joined by the grace of virtues until their deeds are followed by eternal light.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:19
There is no husband in the house, he has gone, etc. He says, Christ is not bodily in the Church. For having risen from the dead, He ascended to heaven and left us the ministry of governing the Church, namely His house.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:20
He has taken a purse of money with him. He took with him the glory of the resurrection and the honor of immortality, by which He might gladden and enrich the citizens of that homeland.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:20
He will return to his house on the day of the full moon. When the Church of His elect has completed its number, He will return for judgment.

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Proverbs 7:22
The "cemphus" is a kind of wild sea-bird, which has so immoderate an impulse to sexual enjoyment, that its eyes seem to fill with blood in coition; and it often blindly falls into snares, or into the hands of men. To this, therefore, he compares the man who gives himself up to the harlot on account of his immoderate lust; or else on account of the insensate folly of the creature, for he, too, pursues his object like one senseless. And they say that this bird is so much pleased with foam, that if one should hold foam in his hand as he sails, it will sit upon his hand. And it also brings forth with pain.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:22
Immediately he follows her, etc. That is, as if a foolish person, not knowing, he himself is led to destruction.

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Proverbs 7:26
You have seen her mischief. Wait not to admit the rising of lust; for her death is everlasting. And for the rest, by her words, her arguments in sooth, she wounds, and by her sins she kills those who yield to her. For many are the forms of wickedness that lead the foolish down to hell. And the chambers of death mean either its depths or its treasure. How, then, is escape possible?

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:26
And all the mighty men were slain by her. As Solomon himself, the wisest of men, as Samson, the strongest, as David, the most gentle, were ensnared by the trap of women, just as Origen was by heretical doctrine, whom whoever denies to have been a master of the Church after the apostles, while he thought rightly, errs.

[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 7:27
Her house is the way down to Sheol, etc. But also concerning the Church, it says: The gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. XVI). Indeed, the innermost parts of death, the most severe torments of hell, are said to be sharper and darker, by which it is evident that heretics and fornicators are to be submerged. Just as it is said concerning the saints suffering adversities for the Lord in this life: And the jailer put them in the inner dungeon, that is, a more atrocious, fouler, and darker place.