The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

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

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.

Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.

For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.

For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Above all that thou guardest keep thy heart; for out of it are the issues of life.

Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.

My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding;

That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on the nether-world;

Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not.

Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house;

Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien;

And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

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

Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.'

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets.

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.

A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always.

Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien?

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He maketh even all his paths.

His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.

My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbour, if thou hast struck thy hands for a stranger —

Thou art snared by the words of thy mouth, thou art caught by the words of thy mouth —

Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbour; go, humble thyself, and urge thy neighbour.

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise;

Which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her bread in the summer, and gatherest her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

'Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep' —

So shall thy poverty come as a runner, and thy want as an armed man.

A base person, a man of iniquity, is he that walketh with a froward mouth;

That winketh with his eyes, that scrapeth with his feet, that pointeth with his fingers;

Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth evil continually; he soweth discord.

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; on a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy.

There are six things which the LORD hateth, yea, seven which are an abomination unto Him:

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood;

A heart that deviseth wicked thoughts, feet that are swift in running to evil;

A false witness that breatheth out lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

My son, keep the commandment of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

Bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck.

When thou walkest, it shall lead thee, when thou liest down, it shall watch over thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life;

To keep thee from the evil woman, from the smoothness of the alien tongue.

Lust not after her beauty in thy heart; neither let her captivate thee with her eyelids.

For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a loaf of bread, but the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Or can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not go unpunished.

Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

But if he be found, he must restore sevenfold, he must give all the substance of his house.

He that committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he doeth it that would destroy his own soul.

Wounds and dishonour shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of thine eye.

Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart.

Say unto wisdom: 'Thou art my sister', and call understanding thy kinswoman;

That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words.

For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;

And I beheld among the thoughtless ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house;

In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness.

And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.

She is riotous and rebellious, her feet abide not in her house;

Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lieth in wait at every corner.

So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said unto him:

'Sacrifices of peace-offerings were due from me; this day have I paid my vows.

Therefore came I forth to meet thee, to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

I have decked my couch with coverlets, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.

For my husband is not at home, he is gone a long journey;

He hath taken the bag of money with him; he will come home at the full moon.'

With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield, with the blandishment of her lips she enticeth him away.

He goeth after her straightway, as an ox that goeth to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;

Till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteneth to the snare — and knoweth not that it is at the cost of his life.

Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and attend to the words of my mouth.