Warnings Against Adultery
20 1My son, keep your father's commandment,
2and forsake not your mother's teaching.
21
3Bind them on your heart always;
4tie them around your neck.
22
5When you walk, they will lead you;
6when you lie down, they will
7watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23
For the commandment is
8a lamp and the teaching a light, and the
9reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24
to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of
10the adulteress.
25
11Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her
12eyelashes;
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for
13the price of a prostitute is only
14a loaf of bread, but a married woman
15hunts down a precious life.
27
Can a man carry
16fire next to his
17chest and his clothes not be burned?
28
Or can one
18walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?
29
So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her
19will go unpunished.
30
People do not despise a thief if he steals to
20satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31
but
21if he is caught, he will pay
22sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.
32
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
33
He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34
For
23jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when
24he takes revenge.
35
He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.