The Enticement of Sin

8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,

and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.

9 For they [are] a garland of grace on your head

and a pendant around your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you,

do not yield [to them].

11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood,

let us ambush the innocent without cause,

12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol,

and whole like those descending into the Pit.

13 We {will} find all manner of precious goods;

we {will} fill our houses with plunder.

14 Throw in your lot with us;

let us all share one purse”—

15 my son, do not walk the road with them

or set foot upon their path.

16 For their feet run to evil,

and they are swift to shed blood.

17 How futile [it is] to spread the net

where any bird can see it!

18 But they lie in wait for their [own] blood;

they ambush their [own] lives.

19 Such [is] the fate of all who are greedy,

whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.