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 burnt out the fire.

17 All bread is sweet to a fornicator.

He will not cease until he dies.

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.”

19 The eyes of men are his terror.

He doesn’t know that the eyes of the master are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,

seeing all the ways of men,

and looking into secret places.

20 All things were known to him before they were created,

and also after they were completed.

21 This man will be punished in the streets of the city.

He will be seized where he least expects it.

22 So also is a wife who leaves her husband,

and produces an heir by another man.

23 Because 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.

24 She shall be brought out into the congregation.

Her punishment will extend to her children.

25 Her children will not take root.

Her branches will bear no fruit.

26 She will leave her memory for a curse.

Her reproach won’t be blotted out.

27 And those who are left behind will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the master,

and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the master. 28 [fn]