16 Two sorts of people multiply sins, and the third will bring wrath: a hot passion, like a burning fire, will not be quenched until it is consumed; a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease until he has burned out the fire. (WEB) 17 All bread is sweet to a fornicator. He will not cease until he dies. (WEB) 18 A man who goes astray from his own marriage bed says in his heart, “Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me. No one sees me. Of whom am I afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins.” (WEB) 19 The eyes of men are his terror. He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, seeing all the ways of men, and looking into secret places. (WEB) 20 All things were known to him before they were created, and also after they were completed. (WEB) 21 This man will be punished in the streets of the city. He will be seized where he least expects it. (WEB) 22 So also is a wife who leaves her husband, and produces an heir by another man. (WEB) 23 For first, she was disobedient in the law of the Most High. Second, she trespassed against her own husband. Third, she played the adulteress in fornication, and had children by another man. (WEB) 24 She shall be brought out into the congregation. Her punishment will extend to her children. (WEB) 25 Her children will not take root. Her branches will bear no fruit. (WEB) 26 She will leave her memory for a curse. Her reproach won’t be blotted out. (WEB)
Sirach 23:16–26
Semantically similar passages
Proverbs 6:28–30
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? 29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. 30 Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.
Wisdom of Solomon 3:15–17
15 For good labors have fruit of great renown. The root of understanding can’t fail. (WEB) 16 But children of adulterers will not come to maturity. The seed of an unlawful union will vanish away. (WEB) 17 For if they live long, they will not be esteemed, and in the end, their old a… (WEB)
Proverbs 23:27–29
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. 28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men. 29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Numbers 5:30–31
30 or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he suspects his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest is to apply to her this entire law. 31 The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
Hosea 2:9–11
9 Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness. 10 And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My ha…
Proverbs 6:32–34
32 He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. 33 Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away. 34 For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
Book of Enoch 98:4–6
4 I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, as a mountain has not become a slave, And a hill does not become the handmaid of a woman, Even so sin has not been sent upon the earth, But man of himself has created it, And under a great curse shall they fall who commit it. (ENO)
Proverbs 30:19–21
19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a maiden. 20 This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’ 21 Under three things the earth trembl…
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