Proverbs 6:20–35

Warning against Adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command,

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

²¹Always bind them to your heart;

tie them around your neck. ^s

²²When 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.

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

and corrective discipline is the way to life. ^u

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, ^v

from the flattering ^wtongue of a stranger. ^x

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

or let her captivate you with her eyelashes. ^z

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

but an adulteress ^bgoes after a precious life. ^c

²⁷Can a man embrace fire ^d

and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals

without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with

another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished. ^e

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals

to satisfy himself when he is hungry. ^f

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

he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery ^hlacks sense;

whoever does so destroys himself. ⁱ

³³He will get a beating ^jand dishonor,

and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, ^k

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything

or be persuaded by lavish gifts.