Sirach 9:1-9

Common English Bible

9 Don’t be jealous
of your dearly loved wife
    or teach her a bad lesson
    that hurts you too.
² Don’t give yourself to a woman
    so that she crushes your strength.
³ Don’t meet up with a female escort,
    since you might fall into her traps.
⁴ Don’t hang around
with a female musician,
    since you might get caught
    in her advances.
⁵ Don’t stare at a young woman,
    since you might incur punishment
    for her.
⁶ Don’t give yourself to prostitutes,
    since you might lose your inheritance.
⁷ Don’t look around in the city streets,
    and don’t wander in its deserted areas.
⁸ Turn your eye away from a shapely woman,
        and don’t stare at beauty
        belonging to someone else.
    Many have gone astray
    because of a woman’s beauty,
        and out of it affection
        flames up like a fire.
⁹ Don’t ever sit^[a] with a married woman,
        and don’t share meals
        or indulge in wine with her,
    since your soul might be attracted to her
        and you might slip into destruction
        because of your passion.^[b]