The Wisdom of Avoiding Adultery

5 My son, listen to my wise teaching. Pay attention to my words of understanding. ²Then you will remember to live wisely and watch what you say. ³Another man’s wife might be very charming; the words from her lips so sweet and inviting. ⁴But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword! ⁵She is on a path leading to death. She will lead you straight to the grave! ⁶Don’t follow her! She has lost the right way and doesn’t know it. Be careful! Follow the way that leads to life!

Adultery Can Ruin You

⁷Now my sons, listen to me. Don’t forget the words I say. ⁸Stay away from the woman who does the sin of adultery.* Don’t even go near the door of her house. ⁹If you do, then other people will get the honor you should have had. And some stranger will get all the things you worked years to get. ¹⁰People you don’t know will take all your wealth. Other people will get the things you worked for. ¹¹At the end of your life, you will be sad that you ruined your health and lost everything you had. ^12–13Then you will say, “Why didn’t I listen to my parents? Why didn’t I listen to my teachers? I refused to be disciplined. I refused to be corrected. ¹⁴So now I have suffered through almost every kind of trouble people can have—and everyone knows it!”

Enjoy Your Own Wife

^15–16Drink only the water that flows from your own well. And don’t let your water flow out into the streets. {You must have sexual relations only with your own wife. Don’t become the father of children outside your own home.} ¹⁷Your children should belong only to you. You should not have to share them with people out of your own home. ¹⁸So, be happy with your own wife. Enjoy the woman you married while you were young. ¹⁹She is like a beautiful deer, a lovely fawn. Let her love satisfy you completely. Let her love intoxicate you always. ²⁰But don’t go staggering into the arms of another woman! ²¹The Lord clearly sees everything you do. The Lord watches where you go. ²²The sins of an evil person will trap him. His sins will be like ropes holding him. ²³That evil person will die because he refused to be disciplined. He will be trapped by his own desires.

adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin.

Dangers of Helping a Person Get a Loan

6 My son, don’t make yourself responsible for another person’s debts. Don’t make such deals with friends or with strangers. ²{If you do,} then you will be trapped. And you will have trapped yourself with your own words! ³You are under that person’s power. So go to him and free yourself. Beg that person to free you from his debt. ⁴Don’t even wait to rest or sleep. ⁵Escape from that trap like a deer running from a hunter. Free yourself like a bird flying out of a trap.

The Dangers of Being Lazy

⁶Lazy person, you should become like the ant. See what the ant does. Learn from the ant. ⁷The ant has no ruler, no boss, no leader. ⁸But during summer, the ant gathers all its food. The ant saves its food. And in the winter, it has plenty of food. ⁹Lazy person, how long will you lie there? When will you get up from your rest? ¹⁰The lazy person says, “I need a short nap. I will lie here for a short rest.” ¹¹But he sleeps and sleeps. And he becomes poorer and poorer. Soon he will have nothing! It will be like a robber has come and stolen everything.

The Evil Person

¹²An evil and worthless person tells lies and says bad things. ¹³He winks his eye and makes signs with his hands and feet to trick people. ¹⁴That person is a troublemaker. He is always planning to do something bad. He makes trouble everywhere. ¹⁵{But he will be punished.} All of a sudden, disaster will strike. He will suddenly be destroyed! And there will be no one to help him!

Seven Things That the Lord Hates

¹⁶The Lord hates these six, no seven, things: ¹⁷eyes that show a man is proud, tongues that tells lies, hands that kill innocent people, ¹⁸hearts that plan bad things to do, feet that run to do evil things, ¹⁹a person who tells lies in court and says things that are not true, a person who starts arguments and causes fights between other people. ²⁰My son, remember your father’s commands. And don’t forget your mother’s teachings. ²¹{Remember their words always}—tie them around your neck and keep them over your heart. ²²Their teachings will lead you wherever you go. They will watch over you while you sleep. And when you wake up, they will talk to you and guide you. ²³The commands and teachings from your parents are like a light that shows you the right way. They correct you and train you to follow the path to life. ²⁴Their teaching stops you from going to an evil woman. Their words protect you from the smooth talk of the wife that left her husband. ²⁵That woman might be beautiful. But don’t let that beauty burn inside you and tempt you. Don’t let her eyes capture you. ²⁶A prostitute* might cost a loaf of bread. But the wife of another man can cost you your life! ²⁷If a man spills fire on himself, his clothes will also be burned. ²⁸If a man steps on a hot coal, his feet will be burned! ²⁹It is the same with any person who sleeps with another man’s wife. That person will suffer. ^30–31A man might be hungry and steal food to eat. If that man is caught, he must pay seven times more than he stole. It might cost him everything he owns! But other people understand—they don’t lose all their respect for him. ³²But a man who does the sin of adultery is foolish. He is destroying himself—he himself causes his own destruction! ³³People will lose all their respect for him. And he will never lose that shame. ³⁴The woman’s husband will become jealous. That husband will be very angry. He will do anything he can to punish the other man. ³⁵No payment—no amount of money—will be enough to stop his anger!

prostitute A woman paid by men for sexual sin. Sometimes this also means a person who is not faithful to God and stops following him.