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Warning Against Adultery
My son, keep your father’s commands
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
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Bind them upon your heart forever;
fasten them around your neck.
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When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
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For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life,
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keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
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Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,
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for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
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Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
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Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
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So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
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Men do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
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Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
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But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself.
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Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away;
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for jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
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He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.