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countless victims

Proverbs 7:1-27 (JDV).

Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words and treasure my commands.
Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commands and live and guard my instruction as you would the pupil of your eye.
Proverbs 7:3 Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Proverbs 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your relative.
Proverbs 7:5 She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a foreign woman with her flattering talk.
Proverbs 7:6 At the window of my house I looked through my lattice.
Proverbs 7:7 I saw among the morally naive, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking sense.
Proverbs 7:8 Crossing the street near her corner, he strolled down the road to her house
Proverbs 7:9 at twilight, in the evening, in the dark of the night.
Proverbs 7:10 A woman came to meet him dressed like a prostitute, having a hiding heart.
Proverbs 7:11 She is loud and defiant; her feet do not stay at home.
Proverbs 7:12 Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.
Proverbs 7:13 She grabs him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him,
Proverbs 7:14 “I’ve made fellowship offerings; today I’ve fulfilled my vows.
Proverbs 7:15 So I came out to meet you, to search for you, and I’ve found you.
Proverbs 7:16 I’ve spread coverings on my bed– richly colored linen from Egypt.
Proverbs 7:17 I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Proverbs 7:18 Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning. Let’s feast on each other’s love!
Proverbs 7:19 My husband isn’t home; he went on a distant road.
Proverbs 7:20 He took a bag of silver with him and will come home at the time of the full moon.”
Proverbs 7:21 She seduces him with her persistent pleading; she lures him with her flattering talk.
Proverbs 7:22 Surprisingly he follows her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding toward a trap
Proverbs 7:23 until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird darting into a snare — he doesn’t know it will cost him his throat.
Proverbs 7:24 Now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words from my mouth.
Proverbs 7:25 Don’t let your heart turn aside to her roads; don’t stray onto her paths.
Proverbs 7:26 For she has brought many down to death; her victims are countless.
Proverbs 7:27 Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

countless victims

Once again, Solomon warns his sons of the danger of sexual sin. He observes a scenario where a man is lured into a trap by a wife who makes it so easy for the man to cheat with her. He says that she has destroyed countless victims. They did not feel like victims. They thought they were in complete control of the situation. So does the ox, the stag, and the bird. Lust blinds men, making it possible for them to willingly enter the trap. The wages of sin is death.

LORD, open our eyes to the reality that our sinful nature wants us to ignore.