New International Version

Proverbs 6:16-31 New International Version (NIV)

16. There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

17. haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18. a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19. a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

20. My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

21. Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.

22. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

23. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,

24. keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.

25. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

26. For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

27. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

28. Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

29. So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

31. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.