1 Be not jealous over the wife of your bosom,
And teach her not an evil lesson against yourself.
2 Give not your soul to a woman,
That she should set her foot upon your strength.
3 Go not to meet a woman that playeth the harlot,
Lest haply you fall into her snares.
4 Use not the company of a woman that is a singer,
Lest haply you be caught by her attempts.
5 Gaze not on a maid, lest haply you be trapped in her penalties.
6 Give not your soul to harlots,
That you lose not your inheritance.
7 Look not round about you in the streets of the city,
Neither wander you in the solitary places thereof.
8 Turn away your eye from a comely woman,
And gaze not on another’s beauty:
By the beauty of a woman many have been led astray;
And herewith love is kindled as a fire.
9 Sit not at all with a woman that has a husband;
And revel not with her at the wine;
Lest haply your soul turn aside to her,
And with your spirit you slide into destruction.
10 Forsake not an old friend;
For the new is not comparable to him:
Asnew wine,sois a new friend;
If it become old, you shall drink it with gladness.
11 Envy not the glory of a sinner;
For you know not what shall be his overthrow.
12 Delight not in the delights of the ungodly:
Remember they shall not go unpunished tothe grave.
13 Keep you far from the man that haspower to kill,
And you shall have no suspicion of the fear of death:
And if you come to him, commit no fault,
Lest he take away your life:
Know surely that you go about in the midst of snares,
And walk upon the battlements of a city.
14 As well as you can, guess at your neighbors;
And take counsel with the wise.
15 Let your converse be with men of understanding;
And let all your discourse be in the law of the Most High.
16 Let just men be the companions of your board;
And let your glorying be in the fear of the Lord.
17 For the hand of the artificers a work shall be commended:
And he that rules the peopleshall be countedwise for his speech.
18 A man full of tongue is dangerous in his city;
And he that is headlong in his speech shall be hated.