The Enticement of Sin

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

and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.

9For they are a garland of grace on your head

and a pendant around your neck.

10My son, if sinners entice you,

do not yield to them.

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

let us ambush the innocent without cause,

12let us swallow them alive like Sheol,

and whole like those descending into the Pit.

13We will find all manner of precious goods;

we will fill our houses with plunder.

14Throw in your lot with us;

let us all share one purse”—

15my son, do not walk the road with them

or set foot upon their path.

16For their feet run to evil,

and they are swift to shed blood.

17How futile it is to spread the net

where any bird can see it!

18But they lie in wait for their own blood;

they ambush their own lives.

19Such is the fate of all who are greedy,

whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.