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                     Warning Against Adultery 
                    1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, 
                    listen well to my words of insight,  
                    2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may 
                    preserve knowledge.  
                    3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech 
                    is smoother than oil;  
                    4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a 
                    double-edged sword.  
                    5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the 
                    grave.  
                    6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are 
                    crooked, but she knows it not.  
                    7 Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from 
                    what I say.  
                    8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of 
                    her house,  
                    9 lest you give your best strength to others and your years 
                    to one who is cruel,  
                    10 lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich 
                    another man’s house.  
                    11 At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh 
                    and body are spent.  
                    12 You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart 
                    spurned correction!  
                    13 I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors.
                     
                    14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of 
                    the whole assembly.”  
                    15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from 
                    your own well.  
                    16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams 
                    of water in the public squares?  
                    17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with 
                    strangers.  
                    18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the 
                    wife of your youth.  
                    19 A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy 
                    you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.  
                    20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace 
                    the bosom of another man’s wife?  
                    21 For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and he 
                    examines all his paths.  
                    22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of 
                    his sin hold him fast. 
                    23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own 
                    great folly. 
                      
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