Proverbs 6:20–35

Warning against Adultery

20 My son, keep your father’s command,

and don’t reject your mother’s teaching. r

21 Always bind them to your heart;

tie them around your neck. s

22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

23 For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, t

and corrective discipline is the way to life. u

24 They will protect you from an evil woman, v

from the flattering w tongue of a stranger. x

25 Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty y

or let her captivate you with her eyelashes. z

26 For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, a

but an adulteress b goes after a precious life. c

27 Can a man embrace fire d

and his clothes not be burned?

28 Can a man walk on burning coals

without scorching his feet?

29 So it is with the one who sleeps with

another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished. e

30 People don’t despise the thief if he steals

to satisfy himself when he is hungry. f

31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; g

he must give up all the wealth in his house.

32 The one who commits adultery h lacks sense;

whoever does so destroys himself. i

33 He will get a beating j and dishonor,

and his disgrace will never be removed.

34 For jealousy enrages a husband, k

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

35 He will not be appeased by anything

or be persuaded by lavish gifts.