6
1 My son,
if you have
become collateral
for your neighbor,
if you have struck
your hands in
pledge for a
stranger,
2 you
are trapped by the
words of your
mouth;
you are ensnared
with the words
of your mouth.
3 Do
this now, my
son, and deliver
yourself,
since you have
come into the
hand of your
neighbor.
Go, humble
yourself.
Press your plea with
your neighbor.
4 Give
no sleep to
your eyes,
nor slumber to
your eyelids.
5 Free yourself,
like a gazelle
from the hand
of the hunter,
like a bird from
the snare of the
fowler.
6 Go
to the ant,
you sluggard.
Consider her ways,
and be wise;
7 which having no
chief, overseer,
or ruler,
8 provides
her bread in
the summer,
and gathers her
food in the
harvest.
9 How
long will you
sleep, sluggard?
When will you
arise out of
your sleep?
10 A
little sleep, a
little slumber,
a little folding
of the hands
to sleep—
11 so your
poverty will come
as a robber,
and your scarcity as an
armed man.
12 A
worthless person,
a man of iniquity,
is he who
walks with a
perverse mouth,
13 who winks
with his eyes, who
signals with his
feet,
who motions with his fingers,
14 in
whose heart
is perverseness,
who devises evil
continually,
who always sows
discord.
15 Therefore
his calamity will come suddenly.
He will be broken
suddenly, and that
without remedy.
16 There
are six things
which the LORD
hates;
yes, seven which
are an abomination
to him:
17 arrogant
eyes, a lying
tongue,
hands that shed
innocent blood,
18 a
heart that devises
wicked schemes,
feet that are
swift in running
to mischief,
19 a
false witness who
utters lies,
and he who sows
discord among brothers.
20 My
son, keep your
father’s commandment,
and don’t forsake
your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind
them continually
on your heart.
Tie them around
your neck.
22 When
you walk, it
will lead you.
When you sleep,
it will watch
over you.
When you awake,
it will talk
with you.
23 For
the commandment is
a lamp,
and the law
is light.
Reproofs of
instruction are
the way of
life,
24 to
keep you from
the immoral woman,
from the flattery
of the wayward wife’s
tongue.
25 Don’t
lust after her
beauty in your
heart,
neither let her captivate
you with her
eyelids.
26 For
a prostitute reduces
you to a
piece of bread.
The adulteress hunts
for your precious
life.
27 Can
a man scoop fire into
his lap,
and his clothes
not be burned?
28 Or
can one walk
on hot coals,
and his feet
not be scorched?
29 So
is he who goes
in to his
neighbor’s wife.
Whoever touches
her will not
be unpunished.
30 Men don’t
despise a thief
if he steals
to satisfy himself
when he is
hungry,
31 but if
he is found,
he shall restore
seven times.
He shall give
all the wealth
of his house.
32 He
who commits
adultery with
a woman is void
of understanding.
He who does
it destroys his
own soul.
33 He
will get wounds
and dishonor.
His reproach will
not be wiped
away.
34 For
jealousy arouses the
fury of
the husband.
He won’t spare in
the day of
vengeance.
35 He won’t
regard any ransom,
neither will
he rest content, though
you give many
gifts.