Warning against Adultery

5 My child, pay attention and listen to my wisdom and insight. ² Then you will know how to behave properly, and your words will show that you have knowledge. ³ The lips of another man's wife may be as sweet as honey and her kisses as smooth as olive oil, ⁴ but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain. ⁵ She will take you down to the world of the dead; the road she walks is the road to death. ⁶ She does not stay on the road to life; but wanders off, and does not realize what is happening.

⁷ Now listen to me, sons, and never forget what I am saying. ⁸ Keep away from such a woman! Don't even go near her door! ⁹ If you do, others will gain the respect that you once had, and you will die young at the hands of merciless people. ¹⁰ Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else. ¹¹ You will lie groaning on your deathbed, your flesh and muscles being eaten away, ¹² and you will say, “Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me? ¹³ I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them. ¹⁴ And suddenly I found myself^[a] publicly disgraced.”

¹⁵ Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone. ¹⁶ Children that you have by other women will do you no good. ¹⁷ Your children should grow up to help you, not strangers. ¹⁸ So be happy with your wife and find your joy with the woman you married— ¹⁹ pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love. ²⁰ Son, why should you give your love to another woman? Why should you prefer the charms of another man's wife? ²¹ The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching. ²² The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin. ²³ They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.