PREDATOR BECOMES PREY

At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.
Proverbs 7:6‭-‬7‭, ‬22‭-‬23‭, ‬26 NIV

¶The proverb moves from the general to the specific with an observation of a particular act of adultery, implicating it in additional acts of deception and religious hypocrisy. It ends by moving from the specific to the general, enumerating the many victims who have been likewise deceived by its allure. In between are the three comparisons, likening what happens to the striking down of the ox, of the deer, and of the bird, all things in which men are often involved, and the brutality of which they are aware. Together they make for a very persuasive case: "My secret is known. The consequences are brutal. Plus, I must warn those in the throng who would likewise go down!"