Warning Against Adultery

[1] My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: [2] That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. [3] For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: [4] But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. [5] Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. [6] Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. [7] Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. [8] Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: [9] Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: [10] Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; [11] And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, [12] And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; [13] And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! [14] I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. [15] Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. [16] Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. [17] Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. [18] Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. [19] Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. [20] And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? [21] For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. [22] His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. [23] He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

[20] My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: [21] Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. [22] When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. [23] For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: [24] To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. [25] Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. [26] For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. [27] Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? [28] Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? [29] So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. [30] Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; [31] But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. [32] But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. [33] A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. [34] For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. [35] He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

[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.

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.