20. My son, keep your father’s commands.Don’t forget your mother’s teaching.
21. Remember their words forever.Let it be as if they were tied around your neck.
22. They will guide you when you walk.They will guard you while you sleep.They will speak to you when you are awake.
23. Their commands are like a lamp.Their teaching is like a light.And the correction that comes from themhelps you have life.
24. Such teaching will keep you from sinful womenand from the pleasing words of another man’s unfaithful wife.
25. Don’t want her because she is beautiful.Don’t let her capture you by the way she looks at you.
26. A prostitute may leave you with only a loaf of bread.And a woman who takes part in adultery may cost you your life.
27. You cannot carry hot coals against your chestwithout burning your clothes.
28. And you cannot walk on hot coalswithout burning your feet.
29. The same thing happens if you commit adultery with another man’s wife.Anyone who does so will be punished.
30. People do not hate a thiefwhen he steals because he is hungry.
31. But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole.It may cost him everything he owns.
32. A man who takes part in adultery doesn’t have any sense.He will destroy himself.
33. He will be beaten up and disgraced.And his shame will never go away.
34. Jealousy makes a husband very angry.He will have no mercy when he gets even.
35. He will accept no payment for the wrong.He will take no money, no matter how much it is.