24 to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,
but a married woman hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbour's wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonour,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
The purifying influence of the word of God is the only adequate safeguard and pro- tection against the kind of snare spoken of in 25ff. We should not miss the significance, in this connection, of the emphasis on 'the heart' in 2b; keep the heart, resist beginnings; for the one whose heart is not governed by the sanctifying truth of God is an unhappy man indeed. To trifle in this realm is ultimately to be overcome. It is not possible to play with fire, even in the heart and imagination (27), and not be burned. If he thinks it, does he really believe that it will stop at his thoughts? It may be asked why there is such a considerable emphasis on the sins of impurity in these chapters. The next chapter con- tinues the theme with a graphic illustration of these verses). One reason is this: generally, in times of great pressure in society - and this is something we are particularly conscious of today - when there seems to be a general attack all round on accepted values, and a general undermining of standards of behaviour, it is particularly in the sensitive areas of human life that the effect of such an attack is most markedly seen. It is the potential weak spots that tend to suffer most under pressure. This is true of any kind of pressure and any kind of excess, even in the religious realm, as the history of revival sometimes shows, when extremes have been known to lead to gross immorality. The meaning in 31ff is that theft or burglary is a relatively straightforward matter, with straightforward consequences, but adultery is destructive of the soul, it does something to a man that no other sin does. This is the difference between this kind of sin and all other kinds see 1 Corinthians 6:13ff).