Avoiding Immorality (Leviticus 20:10–21; 1 Corinthians 5:1–8)
1 DRA My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence. BSB BSB: My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
2 DRA That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman. BSB BSB: that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 DRA For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil. BSB BSB: Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 DRA But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword. BSB BSB: in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 DRA Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell. BSB BSB: Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
6 DRA They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable. BSB BSB: She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
7 DRA Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. BSB BSB: So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
8 DRA Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house. BSB BSB: Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
9 DRA Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel. BSB BSB: lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
10 DRA Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house, BSB BSB: lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
11 DRA And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say: BSB BSB: At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
12 DRA Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof, BSB BSB: and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 DRA And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters? BSB BSB: I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
14 DRA I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation. BSB BSB: I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
15 DRA Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well: BSB BSB: Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
16 DRA Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters. BSB BSB: Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 DRA Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee. BSB BSB: Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 DRA Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth: BSB BSB: May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
19 DRA Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love. BSB BSB: A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
20 DRA Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another? BSB BSB: Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 DRA The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps. BSB BSB: For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
22 DRA His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins. BSB BSB: The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
23 DRA He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived. BSB BSB: He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.