The Beautiful Boundaries of Sexual Expression

Warning Against Adultery

    [1] My son, be attentive to my wisdom;

        incline your ear to my understanding, 

    [2] that you may keep discretion,

        and your lips may guard knowledge. 

    [3] For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

        and her speech is smoother than oil, 

    [4] but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

        sharp as a two-edged sword. 

    [5] Her feet go down to death;

        her steps follow the path to Sheol; 

    [6] she does not ponder the path of life;

        her ways wander, and she does not know it.

    [7] And now, O sons, listen to me,

        and do not depart from the words of my mouth. 

    [8] Keep your way far from her,

        and do not go near the door of her house, 

    [9] lest you give your honor to others

        and your years to the merciless, 

    [10] lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

        and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, 

    [11] and at the end of your life you groan,

        when your flesh and body are consumed, 

    [12] and you say, “How I hated discipline,

        and my heart despised reproof! 

    [13] I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

        or incline my ear to my instructors. 

    [14] I am at the brink of utter ruin

        in the assembled congregation.”

    [15] Drink water from your own cistern,

        flowing water from your own well. 

    [16] Should your springs be scattered abroad,

        streams of water in the streets? 

    [17] Let them be for yourself alone,

        and not for strangers with you. 

    [18] Let your fountain be blessed,

        and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 

    [19]     a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

    Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

        be intoxicated always in her love. 

    [20] Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman

        and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 

    [21] For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,

        and he ponders all his paths. 

    [22] The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,

        and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 

    [23] He dies for lack of discipline,

        and because of his great folly he is led astray.

Proverbs 6:20-35

Warnings Against Adultery

    [20] My son, keep your father’s commandment,

        and forsake not your mother’s teaching. 

    [21] Bind them on your heart always;

        tie them around your neck. 

    [22] When you walk, they will lead you;

        when you lie down, they will watch over you;

        and when you awake, they will talk with you. 

    [23] For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

        and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, 

    [24] to preserve you from the evil woman,

        from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. 

    [25] Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

        and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; 

    [26] for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,

        but a married woman hunts down a precious life. 

    [27] Can a man carry fire next to his chest

        and his clothes not be burned? 

    [28] Or can one walk on hot coals

        and his feet not be scorched? 

    [29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

        none who touches her will go unpunished. 

    [30] People do not despise a thief if he steals

        to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, 

    [31] but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;

        he will give all the goods of his house. 

    [32] He who commits adultery lacks sense;

        he who does it destroys himself. 

    [33] He will get wounds and dishonor,

        and his disgrace will not be wiped away. 

    [34] For jealousy makes a man furious,

        and he will not spare when he takes revenge. 

    [35] He will accept no compensation;

        he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Proverbs 7

Warning Against the Adulteress

    [1] My son, keep my words

        and treasure up my commandments with you; 

    [2] keep my commandments and live;

        keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; 

    [3] bind them on your fingers;

        write them on the tablet of your heart. 

    [4] Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

        and call insight your intimate friend, 

    [5] to keep you from the forbidden woman,

        from the adulteress with her smooth words.

    [6] For at the window of my house

        I have looked out through my lattice, 

    [7] and I have seen among the simple,

        I have perceived among the youths,

        a young man lacking sense, 

    [8] passing along the street near her corner,

        taking the road to her house 

    [9] in the twilight, in the evening,

        at the time of night and darkness.

    [10] And behold, the woman meets him,

        dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 

    [11] She is loud and wayward;

        her feet do not stay at home; 

    [12] now in the street, now in the market,

        and at every corner she lies in wait. 

    [13] She seizes him and kisses him,

        and with bold face she says to him, 

    [14] “I had to offer sacrifices,

        and today I have paid my vows; 

    [15] so now I have come out to meet you,

        to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. 

    [16] I have spread my couch with coverings,

        colored linens from Egyptian linen; 

    [17] I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

        aloes, and cinnamon. 

    [18] Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

        let us delight ourselves with love. 

    [19] For my husband is not at home;

        he has gone on a long journey; 

    [20] he took a bag of money with him;

        at full moon he will come home.”

    [21] With much seductive speech she persuades him;

        with her smooth talk she compels him. 

    [22] All at once he follows her,

        as an ox goes to the slaughter,

    or as a stag is caught fast 

    [23]     till an arrow pierces its liver;

    as a bird rushes into a snare;

        he does not know that it will cost him his life.

    [24] And now, O sons, listen to me,

        and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 

    [25] Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;

        do not stray into her paths, 

    [26] for many a victim has she laid low,

        and all her slain are a mighty throng. 

    [27] Her house is the way to Sheol,

        going down to the chambers of death.