Proverbs 6:23–26

¹⁰⁵Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

¹⁹We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

⁸The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

³¹The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

¹³Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

⁴He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

⁸¶ And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

²⁴The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

⁹⁸Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

⁹⁹I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

¹⁰⁰I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

⁵Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

²⁰To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

⁵Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

¹⁷¶ Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

¹²And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

³¶ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

⁵That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

²⁸But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

³⁰¶ And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

²¶ And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

³And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

⁴And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.

⁵And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

¹⁶¶ Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

⁹Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

³⁰But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

³Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

³⁶And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

¹⁴That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:

¹⁸And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.

¹³And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

¹⁴And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

¹⁵And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

⁸Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

²³Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.