Adultery Kills
20My son, keep your father’s commandment;
Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21Tie them over your heart always;
Bind them around your throat.
22When you walk it will lead you;
When you lie down it will watch over you;
And when you are awake it will talk with you.
23For the commandment is a lamp,
The teaching is a light,
And the way to life is the rebuke that disciplines.
24It will keep you from an evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of a forbidden woman.
25Do not lust for her beauty
Or let her captivate you with her eyes. [ . . . ]
27Can a man rake embers into his bosom
Without burning his clothes?
28Can a man walk on live coals
Without scorching his feet?
29It is the same with one who sleeps with his fellow’s wife;
None who touches her will go unpunished.
30A thief is not held in contempt
For stealing to appease his hunger;
31Yet if caught he must pay sevenfold;
He must give up all he owns.
32He who commits adultery is devoid of sense;
Only one who would destroy himself does such a thing.
33He will meet with disease and disgrace;
His reproach will never be expunged.
34The fury of the husband will be passionate;
He will show no pity on his day of vengeance.
35He will not have regard for any ransom;
He will refuse your bribe, however great.
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Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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Writings: The Third Section of the Jewish Bible
10th–2nd Century BCE
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