Proverbs 6:20–35

²⁰My son, obey your father’s commands,

and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

²¹Keep their words always in your heart.

Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, their counsel will lead you.

When you sleep, they will protect you.

When you wake up, they will advise you.

²³For their command is a lamp

and their instruction a light;

their corrective discipline

is the way to life.

²⁴It will keep you from the immoral woman,

from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.

²⁵Don’t lust for her beauty.

Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.

²⁶For a prostitute will bring you to poverty,

but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

²⁷Can a man scoop a flame into his lap

and not have his clothes catch on fire?

²⁸Can he walk on hot coals

and not blister his feet?

²⁹So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife.

He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

³⁰Excuses might be found for a thief

who steals because he is starving.

³¹But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole,

even if he has to sell everything in his house.

³²But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool,

for he destroys himself.

³³He will be wounded and disgraced.

His shame will never be erased.

³⁴For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious,

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation,

nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.