Proverbs 6:20-7:27

English Standard Version

Warnings Against Adultery

²⁰^(A)My son, keep your father's commandment,
    ^(B)and forsake not your mother's teaching.
²¹^(C)Bind them on your heart always;
    ^(D)tie them around your neck.
²²^(E)When you walk, they^[a] will lead you;
    ^(F)when you lie down, they will ^(G)watch over you;
    and when you awake, they will talk with you.
²³For the commandment is ^(H)a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the ^(I)reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman,^[b]
    from the smooth tongue of ^(J)the adulteress.^[c]
²⁵^(K)Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her ^(L)eyelashes;
²⁶for ^(M)the price of a prostitute is only ^(N)a loaf of bread,^[d]
    but a married woman^[e] ^(O)hunts down a precious life.
²⁷Can a man carry ^(P)fire next to his ^(Q)chest
    and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸Or can one ^(R)walk on hot coals
    and his feet not be scorched?
²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
    none who touches her ^(S)will go unpunished.
³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to ^(T)satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
³¹but ^(U)if he is caught, he will pay ^(V)sevenfold;
    he will give all the goods of his house.
³²He who commits adultery lacks sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.
³³He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
³⁴For ^(W)jealousy makes a man furious,
    and he will not spare when ^(X)he takes revenge.
³⁵He will accept no compensation;
    he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Warning Against the Adulteress

7 ^(Y)My son, keep my words
    and ^(Z)treasure up my commandments with you;
²^(AA)keep my commandments and live;
    keep my teaching as ^(AB)the apple of your eye;
³^(AC)bind them on your fingers;
    ^(AD)write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,
⁵to keep you from ^(AE)the forbidden^[f] woman,
    from ^(AF)the adulteress^[g] with her smooth words.

⁶For at ^(AG)the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
⁷and I have seen among ^(AH)the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man ^(AI)lacking sense,
⁸passing along the street ^(AJ)near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
⁹in ^(AK)the twilight, in the evening,
    at ^(AL)the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him,
    ^(AM)dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.^[h]
¹¹She is ^(AN)loud and ^(AO)wayward;
    ^(AP)her feet do not stay at home;
¹²now in the street, now in the market,
    and ^(AQ)at every corner she ^(AR)lies in wait.
¹³She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with ^(AS)bold face she says to him,
¹⁴“I had to ^(AT)offer sacrifices,^[i]
    and today I have ^(AU)paid my vows;
¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
¹⁶I have spread my couch with ^(AV)coverings,
    colored linens from ^(AW)Egyptian linen;
¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with ^(AX)myrrh,
    aloes, and ^(AY)cinnamon.
¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹For ^(AZ)my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey;
²⁰he took a bag of money with him;
    at full moon he will come home.”

²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with ^(BA)her smooth talk she compels him.
²²All at once he follows her,
    as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast^[j]
²³    till an arrow pierces its liver;
as ^(BB)a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴And ^(BC)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her paths,
²⁶for many a victim has she laid low,
    and all her slain are ^(BD)a mighty throng.
²⁷Her house is ^(BE)the way to Sheol,
    going down to the chambers of death.

Footnotes

Proverbs 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
Proverbs 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
Proverbs 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
Proverbs 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
Proverbs 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife
Proverbs 7:5 Hebrew strange
Proverbs 7:5 Hebrew the foreign woman
Proverbs 7:10 Hebrew guarded in heart
Proverbs 7:14 Hebrew peace offerings
Proverbs 7:22 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as a chain to discipline a fool