Avoiding Immorality (Leviticus 20:10–21; 1 Corinthians 5:1–8)
1 WBS My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow thy ear to my understanding: BSB BSB: My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
2 WBS That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. BSB BSB: that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 WBS For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: BSB BSB: Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 WBS But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. BSB BSB: in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 WBS Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. BSB BSB: Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
6 WBS Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them . BSB BSB: She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
7 WBS Hear me now therefore, O ye children, 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 WBS Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: BSB BSB: Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
9 WBS Lest thou give thy honor to others, and thy years to the cruel: BSB BSB: lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
10 WBS Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger; BSB BSB: lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
11 WBS And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, BSB BSB: At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
12 WBS And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; BSB BSB: and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 WBS And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me! BSB BSB: I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
14 WBS I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. BSB BSB: I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
15 WBS Drink waters out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well. BSB BSB: Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
16 WBS Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. BSB BSB: Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 WBS Let them be only thy own, and not for strangers with thee. BSB BSB: Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 WBS Let thy fountain 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 WBS Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always 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 WBS And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? BSB BSB: Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 WBS For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. BSB BSB: For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
22 WBS His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins. BSB BSB: The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
23 WBS He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. 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.