Proverbs 6:20–35

²⁰My child, keep your father’s commandment,

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.^*

²¹Bind them upon your heart always;

tie them around your neck.^*

²²When you walk, they^o will lead you;

when you lie down, they^p will watch over you;

and when you awake, they^q will talk with you.^*

²³For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,^*

²⁴to preserve you from the wife of another,^r

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.^s*

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes,^*

²⁶for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^t

but the wife of another stalks a man’s precious life.^*

²⁷Can fire be carried in the bosom

without burning one’s clothes?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals

without scorching the feet?

²⁹So is he who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished.^*

³⁰Thieves are not despised who steal only

to satisfy their appetite when they are hungry.

³¹Yet if they are caught, they will pay sevenfold;

they will forfeit all the goods of their house.^*

³²But he who commits adultery has no sense;

he who does it destroys himself.^*

³³He will get wounds and dishonor,

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,

and he will show no restraint when he takes revenge.^*

³⁵He will accept no compensation

and will refuse a bribe no matter how great.