03/24/10

Deuteronomy 20-22

Deuteronomy 20 contains instructions from Moses to the Israelites on behavior when going to war. He urges them not to be afraid, even against "an army greater than yours" because God "will be with you." He outlines some of the things for the officers to say to get the right troops in the right attitude and then tells them that when they go to attack a city, they should first make an offer of peace. If the inhabitants accept, then they will be subject to the will of the Israelites. If they refuse, kill all the men and take the women and children, and goods, as plunder. This only applies to distant cities however, as the cities in the nations that God is giving the Israelites, those of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, are to be utterly destroyed - "do not leave alive anything that breathes."

Deuteronomy 21 and 22 have several different shorter sections of law. First, there are instructions for dealing with a slain man outside of a city "if it is not known who killed him." The elders of the town closest to the body must make a sacrifice and declare, "our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done" in atonement. Then, there are instructions related to capturing an enemy woman and marrying her after her period of mourning. The Israelite must "let her go wherever she wishes" is he doesn't want to keep her as a wife, because "since you have dishonored her." A man with two wives must honor his first-born son with the birthright (double portion) of the firstborn even if he prefers the other wife to the first-born's mother. A rebellious son, who will not obey his parents' discipline, can be taken to the elders and then stoned to death by the community, for "you must purge the evil from among you." And anyone put to death and hanged on a tree must not be left overnight, but buried the same day, "because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse."

Chapter 22 starts with several verses of law which do not appear to have a signficant common theme, including laws forbidding cross-dressing, taking mother birds, planting two kinds of seed in your vineyard, wearing wool and linen woven together and yoking an ox and a donkey together. Positive laws include requirements to help "if you see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen on road," to build a parapet around the roof of a new house so that no one will fall from the roof, and to wear tassels on the corners of a cloak. The rest of the chapter gets back to marriage and sexual matters, including dealing with various forms of adultery. For all of the concern about double standards (which might include the section in this chapter on female virginity), "if a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die." There's another interesting regulation on rape, whereas an unmarried girl is raped in a town, they are both to be stoned, because she could have yelled, but if an unmarried girl is raped in the country, "only the man who has one this shall die," the girl "has committed no sin deserving death...though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• The instructions with regard to the Canaanite tribes are harsh and unambiguous. There is obviously a great concern about the example that those tribes will set, the influence they may have on the Israelites, if they are not destroyed.
• The passage on unsolved murders is very interesting. Murders form, for many of us, a high percentage of our entertainment, because there's always (or almost always) a clear right or wrong resolution. So we're very interested in "whodunnit," in books and movies and television shows. There is no consideration in this section whatsoever for "whodunnit." The primary concern is that someone needs to take responsibility for making the appropriate sacrifices. I'm positive that there's a good theological statement to be made here, based on it, but I'm not sure what it is at the moment.
• The crucifixion had special meaning for the Jews, because "anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse." In this way, Jesus takes God's curse for all of us. Again, it's all preparation for the incarnation and resurrection.
• I wonder at the term rape. It almost seems, at times, as if it is being used to describe consensual but non-married and thus illegitimate, activity.

Psalms 44

This is a fascinating psalm. For the first eight verses, the psalmist praises God, praises what "our fathers have told, what you did in their days." He makes it clear that he knows that "it was not by their sword that they won the land...it was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face." "In God we make our boast all day long."

But the rest of the psalm is a lamentation. "Now you have rejected and humbled us." He insists that "we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant...our feet had not strayed from your path...or spread out our hands to a foreign god."

we can understand the lament, as we've all felt it. Which of us has not cried into the darkness, "how long, O Lord, how long?" We want things done on our time. We want answers, we want them immediately, and we want the answers that we want. But sometimes, we don't get those, and the answers take forms that confuse us. The psalm ends with a plea, a plea that we've all made, "Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love." And we have faith that he will, as the psalmist still has faith, else would he not be making the plea. But the answers may not be answers we like, and they'll come in God's time, not ours.

Psalm 44
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.

2 With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our fathers;
you crushed the peoples
and made our fathers flourish.

3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4 You are my King and my God,
who decrees victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we push back our enemies;
through your name we trample our foes.

6 I do not trust in my bow,
my sword does not bring me victory;

7 but you give us victory over our enemies,
you put our adversaries to shame.

8 In God we make our boast all day long,
and we will praise your name forever.
Selah

9 But now you have rejected and humbled us;
you no longer go out with our armies.

10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.

11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.

15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame

16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,
because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

17 All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.

18 Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.

19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?

25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.

26 Rise up and help us;
redeem us because of your unfailing love.

02/15/10

Leviticus 19-21

Leviticus 19 contains instructions from the LORD to the Israelites, through Moses, on a variety of topics. Many of these instructions are either reiterations of, or expansions and commentaries upon, the Ten Commandments. There are admonitions to honor parents, observe the sabbath, abhor idols and false gods, not to lie or steal or swear falsely or defraud or pervert justice, and to honor the LORD and follow his commands. There are instructions to leave the edges and corners of the harvest and the vineyard for the poor and the alien. Verse 27 contains the admonition not to "cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard," which results in the distinctive look of the orthodox.

In chapter 20, the LORD follows the behavioral instructions with appropriate punishments. For many of the sexual sins outlined in chapter 18, the specified punishment is death. The methods specified include stoning and burning. Chapter 21 contains rules intended specifically for the priests who, even more than the community as a whole, "must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the LORD by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy." The priests had to marry virgins, not divorced or widowed or "defiled by prostitution," they couldn't shave their hair or beards, and they musth not be "blind or lame, disfigured or deformed."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There are a great many different topics touched upon in chapter 19, and they are all aimed at one goal, as stated in verse 2 - "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." Indeed, that is the underlying theme of the entire book thus far. It's a book of instructions for God's people to follow in being an example for all others. Jesus' said the same thing to his followers in the Sermon on the Mount, that they were to be salt and light for the world.
• We certainly live in a society which could fairly be characterized as sinful. But if we were to have a tendency to think of it as uniquely corrupt in human history, we ought to resist. Go back to Leviticus and consider the things that God finds it necessary to specifically outlaw. There's nothing whatsoever unique about the sinful nature of our society but the new technologies with which we distribute it.
• I've mentioned this before, but again, anyone who uses the sixth Commandment to argue that God told men not to use capital punishment is misinformed or dishonest. God endorsed capital punishment, in many cases.

Psalms 14

"God is present in the company of the righteous." The psalmist here praises those who live in, and depend upon, the LORD. By contrast, those who do not follow the LORD "are corrupt, their deeds are vile." But he doesn't let himself off the hook, saying that "all have turned aside...there is no one who does good, not even one." And again, the prayer ends with praises and protestations of faith, as "the LORD is their refuge...when the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!"

Psalm 14
For the director of music. Of David.
1 The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.

2 The LORD looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.

3 All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

4 Will evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the LORD ?

5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.

6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is their refuge.

7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

02/14/10

Leviticus 15-18

Leviticus 15 deals with "bodily discharges" and uncleanness. The specifics of the discharges are left to the imagination, but the discussion tends to deal with things that men and women sit or lie on. In general, the requirements involve cleaning or destroying the things that the afflicted sit or lie on, followed by a period of days which ends with a ritual sacrifice.

In chapter 16, the LORD describes the actions to be taken by Aaron, and the priests, when entering the Holy of Holys behind the curtain in the tabernacle. And a process of purification and sacrifices to be performed once a year as a Day of Atonement. Among the things to be done is the sacrifice of one goat, and the loading of sins upon another, a scapegoat, to be led into the desert and left there. And the LORD said that "this is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites." Chapter 17 deals with more aspects of the ritual sacrifice, and includes, again, the injunction not to eat blood, "for the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life."

Chapter 18 expounds on the 7th commandment, "thou shall not commit adultery." It deals with all sorts of sexual immorality, from incest to homosexuality to bestiality. It also explicitly commands them not to "give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech." The LORD said, "you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• As already noted, the particulars of the bodily discharges are not specified, and I feel no need to speculate. I will say this, as someone who covered 700 miles on a bicycle one week, that it's easy to imagine that, in the conditions in which they lived, and with the sanitary facilities they enjoyed, open wounds were not all that uncommon.
• Another thing that's worth noting about chapter 15 is that the advice/recommendations/laws are all practical. OK, mostly practical. The requirement to break a clay pot that a man touches, the requirement of the sacrifices and sin offerings are a little less so.
• Blood. "For the life of a creature is in the blood." Blood is the overwhelming impression that this book is leaving on me.
• Chapter 18 contains a fairly extensive list of sexual sins, but there aren't actually any behavioral restrictions, only partner restrictions. That is to say, there aren't any specific acts forbidden other than by implication, by forbidding some possible sexual partners.

Psalms 13

The psalmist is struggling with the silence that sometimes answers prayer. "How long O Lord? ... Look on me and answer!" We want answers, and we want them immediately. And we want them to come clearly, without requiring work or interpretation. "Will you hide from me forever?"

But, in the end, he "trusts in [God's] unfailing love," and "will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me."

Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

01/07/2010

Genesis 18-20

Chapter 18 tells of another meeting between Abraham and the LORD. It starts with Abraham seeing three men standing nearby. He encourages Sarah to bake bread, and he has a servant prepare a calf, and he feeds the men. At some point, it becomes obvious that the men either are manifestations of, or represent, the LORD. The LORD tells Abraham that he will return in a year and Sarah will have a son. Sarah, overhearing, laughs at the impossibility of having a son at her age, but denies it when challenged.

As the three are/the LORD is leaving, they/he look(s) toward Sodom, and the LORD informs Abraham of his intent to examine Sodom, discover if it is as bad as he's been led to believe, and destroy it if true. Abraham negotiates and wins the sparing of the city if it contains 10 righteous men.

Chapter 19 chronicles

• the Angels' visit to Sodom
• the attempt by the mob to rape them
• the rescue of Lot and his family from Sodom
• the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
• the turning of Lot's wife into a "pillar of salt"

It ends with the disturbing story of Lot's daughters being impregnated by their father.

In chapter 20, Abraham and Sarah travel to Gerar and deal with the king, Abimelech. As in Egypt, Abraham presents Sarah as his sister. As in Egypt, the king takes Sarah. As in Egypt, God punishes the king for taking another man's wife. And, as in Egypt, Abraham leaves richer than he came.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• To say that there is much in this section that I don't understand would be an understatement. (Although that statement would seem to indicate that there are sections that don't have much that I don't understand, and that's probably not accurate either...)
• Does the first half of chapter 18 contain an early reference to the Trinity? The story alternates between "three men" and "the LORD" as the entity or entities with which Abraham is speaking. Are they Angels? Manifestations of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Is the hospitality due to Abraham's recognition of them as holy messengers, or is that a cultural behavior?
• An omniscient God does not need to examine a city [Sodom, Gomorrah] to know what is going on, how bad the situation is, how many good men there are or anything else. This passage is strange, not only because of the limits implied, but because Abraham is seen not only debating with God, but leading him in argument, essentially teaching him.
• God's vision is not ours, God's motives are not ours, and the story, if true, may be true for good reasons that I'm incapable of, or possibly just lack context for, understanding.
• Why, on the other hand, would someone invent, at a late date, a story that makes the almighty God that they worship look so limited?
• I called the story of Lot's daughters disturbing, and it is. But there's almost nothing in chapter 19 that is not disturbing.
• The depth of depravity indicated by mobs pounding on Lot's door and demanding that the visitors be sent out to be ravished is, obviously, significant. To my modern eyes and sensibilities, it's not obvious that Lot's answer - here, take my virgin daughters - is any less depraved.
• There is some debate about whether the sin of Sodom was the homosexuality or the licentiousness. I have heard it argued, and it was compelling at the time, that that it was the former. I do not remember the details of the argument. It seems as if there was plenty of sin to go around, whichever position you hold.
• There is some similarity between the story of Lot's wife and the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Is this coincidence or cultural cross-contamination?
• The story of Lot's daughters getting him drunk and getting impregnated is disturbing. It also is the kind of story that makes all kinds of sense as a late invention.
  
  

  The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
  

  The books of Moses were recorded at the time of the Exodus and the conquest. If you're going into land that is currently occupied, you are going to be more motivated, as a people, if you believe that the land is yours by divine right, and if the people currently living there are illegitimate descendants of drunken incest.
  
• The story of Abraham and Abimelech in chapter 20 is exactly the same story that we read about Abram and Pharoah back in chapter 12. There are no substantive differences, only trappings - place and persons. The behavior is identical. Is this one story that got told a couple of different ways and ended up recorded as two different stories?
• If they aren't the same story, if it did happen twice, and Abraham, having profited the first time, did it again with another ruler, isn't he, well, a pimp?
• Abraham tells Abimelech that Sarah is his half-sister, claiming that the "she's my sister" was not a lie. This is the first mention of their relationship being incestuous. As I've said before, and will have occasion to again, the story is set before the law was handed down. It is unclear to me when, exactly, humanity would have developed practical strictures against said behavior. It is not clear to me, then, that this is viewed as improper in context, no matter how we look at it now.

Proverbs 7

So this is sex day, I guess. Proverbs 7¹ starts with the now-familiar exhortation to "keep my words and store up my commands within you." And then continues to warn against "the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words." We get the (certainly allegorical) story of "a youth who lacked judgment" and was seduced by a woman of "crafty intent." "She led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk...like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life."

It is not surprising that Genesis would contain stories of a sexual nature, nor that Proverbs would devote significant time to sexual morality. The sexual urge is a fundamental and powerful aspect of human life. And it is easily corruptible. Behavior which is desirable and appropriate in one setting becomes inappropriate or troublesome if the circumstances are slightly different. Which is a compelling reason to devote significant effort to educating and warning about the effects of corrupted behavior.
 


¹ - Proverbs 7 in paragraph form:

My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)

She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: "I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon."

With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

01/05/2010

Genesis 12-14

In chapter 12, the story of the Jews really begins, as God calls Abram.

I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

It is not the first time that God has chosen one man over others. He chose Abel's sacrifice over Cain's, and he chose Noah and his family over the rest of humanity. But it is the first time that he chooses one man to establish a line through which he will enlighten and bless humanity, as opposed to just not punishing one. So Abram, with his family and his brother Lot, moves through the Holy Land (which becomes the Holy Land in verse seven: "unto thy seed will I give this land") but continued south to Egypt because there was a famine in the land. Some unseemly, at least to our modern eyes, behavior benefits Abram before he heads north into the promised land once more.

In chapter 13, Abram and Lot, along with all of their possessions, arive back in Bethel. But they've accumulated so much wealth, in the form of cattle and sheep and camels, that the land will not support both of them and their possessions. Abram suggests to Lot that he (Lot) go one way (choose one) and he (Abram) will go the other. Lot chose "the whole plain of the Jordan." Abram moved to Hebron.

Chapter 14 tells the story of Abram's rescue of Lot. The backdrop was the war between the kings of many of the small kingdoms of the ancient near-east. Many of them were rebelling against Chedorlaomer (Kedorlaomer), having been subject to him for 12 years. Two of the kings were the kings of Sodom () and Gomorrah (). Lot was swept up or captured or kidnapped during this war, and carried away to the north. Abram went after them, and with "the 318 trained men born in his household," he defeated Kedorlaomer and brought back Lot and his possessions. The king of Sodom encouraged him to return the people and keep the possessions, but Abram refused to keep anything other than what his men had eaten, claiming that he had made an oath to God.

Odds & ends
• The passage in Egypt is, as so many of the Old Testament passages are, jarring to our modern sensibilities. Which may actually be an understatement. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which a man would fear for his life because of his wife and possessions, but the idea that he would have her pretend to be his sister and then just acquiesce to whatever happens is ... well, it's not one that is comfortable to us.
• If God punished Pharaoh because Abram lied to him, and Pharaoh found out, why did he send Abram off with valuable parting gifts?
• There are two mentions of a story yet to come. When Lot looks over the plain of the Jordan, the narrator informs us that "God had not yet destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." When he pitched his tents near Sodom, we are told that "the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD."
• There are other anachronistic terms indicating a late telling of the story.
  
  • In Gen 14:13, we Abram referred to as "Abram the Hebrew." This is the first appearance of the term "Hebrew"¹ in scripture.
  • In verse 14, we are told that Abram chased them as far as Dan.
  • Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem) is referred to as "a priest of God most high." It is difficult to know exactly what that would mean in the time before the birth of Israel.
• There are some who believe that these stories, indeed all of the stories of the patriarchs, are later inventions, just myth-making. There is significant evidence to the contrary, from the relative frequency of name forms to the price of slaves to the forms of covenants to placing action in cities that were unoccupied and unknown at the time of the alleged invention.
• I am not positive, but I believe that Chedorlaomer is one of the historical figures for whom there is extra-biblical evidence. UPDATE: A google search suggests the existence of Babylonian texts where the name appears, but significantly later than the time of the patriarchs.

Proverbs 5

Four chapters in, we come to what appears to be a specific topic. Chapter 5² deals with avoiding the "strange woman" (KJV) or "adulteress" (NIV). The admonitions are to avoid this woman, to cherish "the wife of your youth," to "drink from your own cistern," etc. In other words, to be faithful.

The question is, faithful to what? On the surface, this is a chapter about sexual morality, about maintaining faithfulness to one's spouse and avoiding the sin of adultery. But I'm not convinced that that's actually the message. Keep in mind that we've already seen wisdom referred to as "she" and been warned about the "strange woman." Also, we know that this sort of imagery will be used by Isaiah and Jeremiah in warning the people to be faithful to God, to avoid the "whore of Babylon." The advice here obviously works on a surface level, as adultery is a sin, faithfulness is a virtue, and the brief physical pleasures that might come from straying cannot compensate for the loss of fidelity. But I think it not only works on a "Israel needs to be faithful to God" level, I suspect that that was the original intent.

I have nothing, by the way, to back that up. That's my perception of the message.


¹ - Some sources indicate "sojourner" or "wanderer" or "one who crosses over," from the root "br" which means "to cross over a boundary." I don't know, and while I know someone who certainly does, if I went to him with every question that arises in this process a) I'd be pestering him constantly and b) it would cease to be mine.

² - Chapter 5 in paragraph form

My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house. At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.