But he refused.(A) “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.(B)

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Saying 18

26 My son,(A) give me your heart
    and let your eyes delight in my ways,(B)
27 for an adulterous woman is a deep pit,(C)
    and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
28 Like a bandit she lies in wait(D)
    and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

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14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit;(A)
    a man who is under the Lord’s wrath falls into it.(B)

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They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words.(A)

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10 My son, if sinful men entice(A) you,
    do not give in(B) to them.(C)

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24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.(A)

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13 Folly is an unruly woman;(A)
    she is simple and knows nothing.(B)
14 She sits at the door of her house,
    on a seat at the highest point of the city,(C)
15 calling out(D) to those who pass by,
    who go straight on their way,
16     “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense(E) she says,
17     “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is delicious!(F)
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.(G)

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25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
    or stray into her paths.(A)
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
    her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
    leading down to the chambers of death.(B)

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32 But a man who commits adultery(A) has no sense;(B)
    whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
    and his shame will never(C) be wiped away.

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29 So is he who sleeps(A) with another man’s wife;(B)
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.

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Warning Against Adultery

20 My son,(A) keep your father’s command
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.(B)
21 Bind them always on your heart;
    fasten them around your neck.(C)
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
    when you sleep, they will watch over you;
    when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
    this teaching is a light,(D)
and correction and instruction
    are the way to life,(E)
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
    from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.(F)

25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
    or let her captivate you with her eyes.

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For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil;(A)
but in the end she is bitter as gall,(B)
    sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.(C)
She gives no thought to the way of life;
    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.(D)

Now then, my sons, listen(E) to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
Keep to a path far from her,(F)
    do not go near the door of her house,

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16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,(A)
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a](B)
18 Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.(C)
19 None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,(A)
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

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