Proverbs
CHAPTER 6
1 My son, if you have become a surety for your neighbor, If you have given your hands as a pledge for a stranger,
2 You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are caught by 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, and plead with your neighbor.
4 Do not give sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand And like a bird from the fowler's hand.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; Consider its ways, and be wise,
7 Which, having no chief, Officer, or ruler,
8 Prepares its food in summer And gathers its sustenance in the harvest.
9 How long, sluggard, will you lie there? When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,
11 And your poverty will come upon you like a robber, And your want, like an armed man.
12 A worthless man, a wicked man, Goes around with a perverse mouth,
13 Winking with his eyes, signaling with his feet, Pointing with his fingers;
14 With perverseness in his heart, he is devising evil continually; He injects discord.
15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; In a moment he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.
16 There are six things that Jehovah hates; Indeed, seven that are an abomination to His soul:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked schemes, Feet that hurry to run to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who injects discord among brothers.
20 My son, keep the commandment of your father, And do not reject the teaching of your mother;
21 Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk about, it will guide you, When you lie down, it will watch over you; And when you awake, it will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light, And the reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her catch you with her eyelids;
26 For the price of a harlot is a loaf of bread, But the wife of another man hunts for the precious soul.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?
29 So it is with him who goes in to his neighbor's wife; No one who touches her will be unpunished.
30 The thief is not despised if he steals To satisfy himself when he is hungry;
31 But if he is found out, he shall restore sevenfold; He must give over all the substance of his house.
32 He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense; He who does it destroys his own soul.
33 He will find wounds and dishonor, And his reproach will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will not regard any ransom, Nor will he be content if you give him great gifts.