Chapter 9

¹Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she shew in thy regard the malice of a wicked lesson. ²Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy strength, and thou be confounded. ³Look not upon a woman that hath a mind for many: lest thou fall into her snares. ⁴Use not much the company of her that is a dancer, and hearken not to her, lest thou perish by the force of her charms. ⁵Gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumblingblock to thee. ⁶Give not thy soul to harlots in any point: lest thou destroy thyself and thy inheritance. ⁷Look not round about thee in the of the city, nor wander up and down in the streets thereof. ⁸Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another's beauty. ⁹For many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby lust is enkindled as a fire. ¹⁰Every woman that is a harlot, shall be trodden upon as dung in the way. ¹¹Many by admiring the beauty of another man's wife, have become reprobate, for her conversation burneth as fire. ¹²Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor repose upon the bed with her: ¹³And strive not with her over wine, lest thy heart decline towards her, and by thy blood thou fall into destruction. ¹⁴Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him. ¹⁵A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure. ¹⁶Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be. ¹⁷Be not pleased with the wrong done by the unjust, knowing that even to hell the wicked shall not please. ¹⁸Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, so thou shalt not suspect the fear of death. ¹⁹And if thou come to him, commit no fault, lest he take away thy life. ²⁰Know it to be a communication with death: for thou art going in the midst of snares, and walking upon the arms of them that are grieved: ²¹According to thy power beware of thy neighbor, and treat with the wise and prudent. ²²Let just men be thy guests, and let thy glory be in the fear of God. ²³And let the thought of God be in thy mind, and all thy discourse on the commandments of the Highest. ²⁴Works shall be praised for the hand of the artificers, and the prince of the people for the wisdom of his speech, but word of the ancients for the sense. ²⁵A man full of tongue is terrible in his city, and he that is rash in his word shall be hateful.