[1] My son, listen to my wise teaching. Pay attention to my words of understanding.
[2] Then you will remember to live wisely and watch what you say.
[3] Another man’s wife might be very charming; the words from her lips so sweet and inviting.
[4] But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword!
[5] She is on a path leading to death. She will lead you straight to the grave!
[6] Don’t follow her! She has lost the right way and doesn’t know it. Be careful! Follow the way that leads to life!
[7] Now my sons, listen to me. Don’t forget the words I say.
[8] Stay away from the woman who does the sin of adultery. Don’t even go near the door of her house.
[9] If you do, then other people will get the honor you should have had. And some stranger will get all the things you worked years to get.
[10] People you don’t know will take all your wealth. Other people will get the things you worked for.
[11] At the end of your life, you will be sad that you ruined your health and lost everything you had.
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[13] Then you will say, “Why didn’t I listen to my parents? Why didn’t I listen to my teachers? I refused to be disciplined. I refused to be corrected.
[14] So now I have suffered through almost every kind of trouble people can have—and everyone knows it!”
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[16] Drink only the water that flows from your own well. And don’t let your water flow out into the streets. ˻You must have sexual relations only with your own wife. Don’t become the father of children outside your own home.˼
[17] Your children should belong only to you. You should not have to share them with people out of your own home.
[18] So, be happy with your own wife. Enjoy the woman you married while you were young.
[19] She is like a beautiful deer, a lovely fawn. Let her love satisfy you completely. Let her love intoxicate you always.
[20] But don’t go staggering into the arms of another woman!
[21] The Lord clearly sees everything you do. The Lord watches where you go.
[22] The sins of an evil person will trap him. His sins will be like ropes holding him.
[23] That evil person will die because he refused to be disciplined. He will be trapped by his own desires.