Proverbs 6:1-35
6 My son, if you have put up security* for your neighbor,+If you have given your handshake* to a stranger,+
2 If you have been ensnared by your promise,Caught by the words of your mouth,+
3 Do this, my son, and free yourself,For you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor:
Go and humble yourself and urgently plead with your neighbor.+
4 Do not allow your eyes to sleep,Nor your eyelids to slumber.
5 Free yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,Like a bird from the hand of the birdcatcher.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy one;+Observe its ways and become wise.
7 Although it has no commander, officer, or ruler,
8 It prepares its food in the summer,+And it gathers its food supplies in the harvest.
9 How long, you lazy one, will you lie there?
When will you rise up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumbering,A little folding of the hands to rest,+
11 And your poverty will come like a bandit,And your want like an armed man.+
12 A useless and wicked man walks about with crooked speech;+
13 He winks with his eye,+ signals with his foot, and motions with his fingers.
14 With a perverted heart,He is always scheming evil+ and spreading contentions.+
15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;In a moment he will be broken beyond healing.+
16 There are six things that Jehovah hates;Yes, seven things that he* detests:
17 Haughty eyes,+ a lying tongue,+ and hands that shed innocent blood,+
18 A heart plotting wicked schemes,+ and feet that run quickly to evil,
19 A false witness who lies with every breath,+And anyone sowing contentions among brothers.+
20 Observe, my son, the commandment of your father,And do not forsake the instruction* of your mother.+
21 Always bind them around your heart;Tie them about your neck.
22 When you walk about, it will lead you;When you lie down, it will stand guard over you;And when you awaken, it will speak to you.*
23 For the commandment is a lamp,+And the law is a light,+And the reproofs of discipline are the way to life.+
24 They will guard you against the bad woman,+Against the seductive tongue of the immoral* woman.+
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart+Or allow her to captivate you with her alluring eyes,
26 For because of a prostitute, a man is reduced to a loaf of bread,+But the wife of another man preys on a precious life.*
27 Can a man rake fire to his chest and not burn his garments?+
28 Or can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?
29 It is the same with anyone having relations with his neighbor’s wife;No one who touches her will go unpunished.+
30 People do not despise a thiefIf he steals to satisfy himself* when he is hungry.
31 Yet, when found, he will repay sevenfold;He will give up all the valuables of his house.+
32 Anyone committing adultery with a woman is lacking good sense;*The one who does so brings ruin on himself.*+
33 He will get only wounds and dishonor,+And his disgrace will not be wiped away.+
34 For jealousy makes a husband furious;He will show no compassion when he takes revenge.+
35 He will accept no compensation;*He will not be appeased, no matter how large you make the gift.
Footnotes
^ That is, in a pledge.
^ Lit., “gone surety.”
^ Or “his soul.”
^ Or “law.”
^ Or “instruct you.”
^ Or “soul.”
^ Or “fill his soul.”
^ Lit., “in want of heart.”
^ Or “his soul.”
^ Or “ransom.”