Proverbs 6:20–35

Warning Against Adultery

My son,^a keep your father’s command

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

Bind them always on your heart;

fasten them around your neck.^c

When you walk, they will guide you;

when you sleep, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

For this command is a lamp,

this teaching is a light,^d

and correction and instruction

are the way to life,^e

keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,

from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.^f

Do not lust in your heart after her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes.

For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,

but another man’s wife preys on your very life.^g

Can a man scoop fire into his lap

without his clothes being burned?

Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being scorched?

So is he who sleeps^h with another man’s wife;ⁱ

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

People do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,^j

though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

But a man who commits adultery^k has no sense;^l

whoever does so destroys himself.

Blows and disgrace are his lot,

and his shame will never^m be wiped away.

For jealousyⁿ arouses a husband’s fury,^o

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

He will not accept any compensation;

he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.^p