Proverbs 6:20-35

A Warning Against Committing Adultery

20 My son, keep your father's commands. Don't turn away from your mother's teaching.

21 Tie them to your heart forever. Put them around your neck.

22 When you walk, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. When you wake up, they will speak to you.

23 Your father's commands are like a lamp. Your mother's teaching is like a light. And the training that corrects you leads to life.

24 It keeps you from a sinful woman. It keeps you from the smooth tongue of a woman who commits adultery.

25 Don't hunger in your heart after her beauty. Don't let her eyes capture you.

26 A prostitute leaves you with only a loaf of bread. Another man's wife hunts your very life.

27 You can't shovel fire into your lap without burning your clothes.

28 You can't walk on hot coals without burning your feet.

29 It's the same for anyone who has sex with another man's wife. Anyone who touches her will be punished.

30 People don't hate a thief who steals to fill his empty stomach.

31 But when he is caught, he must pay seven times as much as he stole. It may even cost him everything he has.

32 A man who commits adultery has no sense. Anyone who does it destroys himself.

33 He will be beaten up and dishonored. His shame will never be wiped away.

34 Jealousy stirs up a husband's anger. He will show no mercy when he gets even.

35 He won't accept any payment. He won't take any money, no matter how much he is offered.

Proverbs 6:20-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6

In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pr 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pr 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pr 6:3-5; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pr 6:6-8; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pr 6:9,10; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pr 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pr 6:11-15. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pr 6:16-19. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pr 6:20-23. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pr 6:24,25; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pr 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pr 6:27-29; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pr 6:30,31; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pr 6:32,33; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pr 6:34,35.