Proverbs 6:23-35
New International Version
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,(A)
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,(B)
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.(C)
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.(D)
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps(E) with another man’s wife;(F)
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,(G)
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery(H) has no sense;(I)
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never(J) be wiped away.
Proverbs 6:23-35
English Standard Version
23 For the commandment is (A)a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the (B)reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman,[a]
from the smooth tongue of (C)the adulteress.[b]
25 (D)Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her (E)eyelashes;
26 for (F)the price of a prostitute is only (G)a loaf of bread,[c]
but a married woman[d] (H)hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry (I)fire next to his (J)chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one (K)walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
none who touches her (L)will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to (M)satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but (N)if he is caught, he will pay (O)sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For (P)jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when (Q)he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
Footnotes
- 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
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.