Daily reading
Proverbs · VI · 20–29
Proverbs 6:20–29 · NLT
XXIII · X · MMXXVI
Key verses · Proverbs 6:20–29 · NLT
22hen you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. (NLT)
23For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life. (NLT)
27Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? (NLT)
Proverbs 6:20–29 · New Living Translation
20y son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
21Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.
22When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you.
23For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.
24It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
25Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.
26For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
27Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?
28Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
29So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished. (NLT)
A note on Scripture quoting
We’ve hit this translation’s public quoting limit for now, so this is a good time to pick up your own Bible and read the rest of the passage.
In short
The father comes back to where chapter 1 started: hold on to what your parents taught you. Wise teaching isn't something you look at once and file away. It goes with you all day. It leads when you're walking, guards you while you sleep, and is there to advise you first thing in the morning. It's a lamp for the path right in front of you.
Then he gets specific about one danger that light is meant to keep you from: getting pulled into an affair. He doesn't argue it with a lecture. He asks two plain questions. Can you scoop fire into your lap and not get burned? Can you walk on hot coals and keep your feet? Some things can't be played with safely, and faithfulness in marriage is guarded best by staying far from the flame, not by testing how close you can get.
For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life. (NLT)
Proverbs 6:23
Try today
Put one guardrail in place today. Think of a small spot where you could drift, like a screen habit late at night, a conversation that's getting too friendly, or simply too little time with the people you've committed to. Close that gap on purpose, then do one thing that turns your heart toward the people you love, like a midday message or ten minutes of real conversation tonight.