Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, be tattentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep discretion,
and uyour lips may guard knowledge.
3 vFor the lips of a forbidden1 woman drip honey,
and wher speech2 is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 xHer feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to3 Sheol;
6 she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 yKeep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, “How I zhated adiscipline,
and my heart bdespised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your csprings be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated4 always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?5
21 For da man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he eponders6 all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Some Greeks Seek Jesus
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some sGreeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, t“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, uunless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it vbears much fruit. 25 wWhoever loves his life loses it, and whoever xhates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must yfollow me; and zwhere I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up
27 a“Now is my soul btroubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, csave me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a dvoice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 eThe crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. fOthers said, g“An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come hfor your sake, not mine. 31 Now is ithe judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am jlifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 kHe said this lto show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains mforever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The nlight is among you ofor a little while longer. Walk pwhile you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who qwalks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become rsons of light.”
The Unbelief of the People
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
