Proverbs 6:23-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,(A)
24 to preserve you from the wife of another,[a]
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.[b](B)
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes,(C)
26 for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,[c]
but the wife of another stalks a man’s precious life.(D)
27 Can fire be carried in the bosom
without burning one’s clothes?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
without scorching the feet?
29 So is he who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.(E)
30 Thieves are not despised who steal only
to satisfy their appetite when they are hungry.
31 Yet if they are caught, they will pay sevenfold;
they will forfeit all the goods of their house.(F)
32 But he who commits adultery has no sense;
he who does it destroys himself.(G)
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no restraint when he takes revenge.(H)
35 He will accept no compensation
and will refuse a bribe no matter how great.
Proverbs 6:23-35
Lexham English Bible
23 For like a lamp is a commandment, and instruction is light,
and the way of life[a] is the reproof of discipline,
24 in order to preserve you from an evil woman,[b]
from the smoothness of the tongue of an adulteress.[c]
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart;
may she not capture you with her eyelashes.
26 For the price of a woman, a prostitute,[d] is the price of a loaf of bread,
but the woman belonging to a man[e] hunts precious life.
Warning Against Relations with a Married Woman
27 Can a man carry fire in his lap,
and his clothes not burn?
28 If a man walks upon the hot coals,
will his feet not be burned?
29 Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor,
any who touches her shall not go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief when he steals
to fill himself[f] when he is hungry.
31 But if he is found, he will pay sevenfold,
every possession of his house he shall give.
32 He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense,[g]
he destroys himself[h] who does it.
33 A wound and dishonor he will find,
and his disgrace will not be wiped out.
34 For jealousy is the fury of a husband,
and he will not show restraint on the day of revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation,[i]
and he will not be willing, though the bribe is large.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:23 Hebrew “lives”
- Proverbs 6:24 Or “wife”
- Proverbs 6:24 Literally “a foreign woman”
- Proverbs 6:26 Or “whore”
- Proverbs 6:26 Literally “the woman of a man”
- Proverbs 6:30 Or “soul,” or “inner self”
- Proverbs 6:32 Literally “heart”
- Proverbs 6:32 Or “his soul,” or “his life”
- Proverbs 6:35 Literally “the face of any compensation”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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