Proverbs 6:20-7:27

Christian Standard Bible

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.^(A)
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.^(B)
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.
²³ For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,^(C)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(D)
24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^[a]
from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.^(E)
25 Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty^(F)
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(G)
26 For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^[b]
but the wife of another man^[c] goes after a precious life.^(H)
27 Can a man embrace fire
and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸ Can a man walk on burning coals
without scorching his feet?
²⁹ So it is with the one who sleeps with
another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.^(I)
30 People don’t despise the thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(J)
31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(K)
he must give up all the wealth in his house.
³² The one who commits adultery^[d] lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.^(L)
33 He will get a beating^[e] and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be removed.
³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,^(M)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
³⁵ He will not be appeased by anything
or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

⁶ At the window of my house
I looked through my lattice.^(T)
7 I saw among the inexperienced,^[f]
I noticed among the youths,
a young man lacking sense.
⁸ Crossing the street near her corner,
he strolled down the road to her house
⁹ at twilight, in the evening,
in the dark of the night.^(U)
10 A woman came to meet him
dressed like a prostitute,^(V)
having a hidden agenda.^[g]
11 She is loud and defiant;^(W)
her feet do not stay at home.^(X)
12 Now in the street, now in the squares,^(Y)
she lurks at every corner.^(Z)
13 She grabs him and kisses him;
she brazenly says^[h] to him,
¹⁴ “I’ve made fellowship offerings;
today I’ve fulfilled my vows.^(AA)
15 So I came out to meet you,
to search for you, and I’ve found you.
¹⁶ I’ve spread coverings on my bed^(AB)—
richly colored linen from Egypt.^(AC)
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.^(AD)
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning.^(AE)
Let’s feast on each other’s love!
¹⁹ My husband isn’t home;
he went on a long journey.
²⁰ He took a bag of silver with him
and will come home at the time of the full moon.”
²¹ She seduces him with her persistent pleading;
she lures with her flattering talk.
²² He follows her impulsively
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer bounding toward a trap^[i]
23 until an arrow pierces its^[j] liver,^(AF)
like a bird darting into a snare^(AG)—
he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.