Concerning Sexual Sins

16 Two kinds of individuals multiply sins,

and a third incurs wrath.

Hot passion that blazes like a fire

will not be quenched until it burns itself out;

one who commits fornication with his near of kin

will never cease until the fire burns him up.

17 To a fornicator all bread is sweet;

he will never weary until he dies.

18 The one who sins against his marriage bed

says to himself, “Who can see me?

Darkness surrounds me, the walls hide me,

and no one sees me. Why should I worry?

The Most High will not remember sins.”

19 His fear is confined to human eyes

and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord

are ten thousand times brighter than the sun;

they look upon every aspect of human behavior

and see into hidden corners.

20 Before the universe was created, it was known to him,

and so it is since its completion.

21 This man will be punished in the streets of the city,

and where he least suspects it, he will be seized.

22 So it is with a woman who leaves her husband

and presents him with an heir by another man.

23 For first of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High;

second, she has committed an offense against her husband;

and third, through her fornication she has committed adultery

and brought forth children by another man.

24 She herself will be brought before the assembly,

and her punishment will extend to her children.

25 Her children will not take root,

and her branches will not bear fruit.

26 She will leave behind an accursed memory

and her disgrace will never be blotted out.

27 Those who survive her will recognize

that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord,

and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.f

The Praise of Wisdom g