Proverbs 6
1 [My] son, if you become surety for your friend, you shall deliver your hand to an enemy.
My son, if thou have become surety for thy neighbour, —have struck for a stranger thy hands,
2 For a man's own lips become a strong snare to him, and he is caught with the lips of his own mouth.
Thou hast been snared by the sayings of thy mouth, —thou hast been caught by the sayings of thy mouth.
3 [My] son, do what I command you, and deliver yourself; for on your friend's account you are come into the power of evil [men]: faint not, but stir up even your friend for whom you are become surety.
Do this then, my son, and deliver thyself, When thou hast come into the hand of thy neighbour, Go, haste thee, and urge thy neighbour;
4 Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber with your eyelids;
Do not give sleep to thine eyes, or slumber to thine eyelashes;
5 that you may deliver yourself as a doe out of the toils, and as a bird out of a snare.
Deliver thyself, as a gazelle out of the hand, and as a bird, out of the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he.
Go to the ant, thou sluggard, observe her ways, and be wise;
7 For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master,
Which, having no harvest, scribe, or ruler,
8 he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom.
Prepareth, in the summer, her food, hath collected, in the harvest, her sustenance.
9 How long will you lie, O sluggard? and when will you awake out of sleep?
How long, O sluggard, wilt thou lie? how long ere thou rise from thy sleep?
10 You sleep a little, and you rest a little, and you slumber a short [time], and you fold your arms over your breast a little.
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest: —
11 Then poverty comes upon you as an evil traveller, and lack as a swift courier: but if you be diligent, your harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.
So shall come in, as a highwayman, thy poverty, and, thy want, as one armed with a shield.
12 A foolish man and a transgressor goes in ways that are not good.
An abandoned man, a man of iniquity, [is he] who—goeth on in perversity of mouth;
13 And the same winks with the eye, and makes a sign with his foot, and teaches with the beckonings of his fingers.
Winketh with his eyes, speaketh with his foot, pointeth with his fingers;
14 [His] perverse heart devises evils: at all times such a one causes troubles to a city.
[Hath] perverse things in his heart, deviseth mischief on every occasion, strifes, he sendeth forth.
15 Therefore his destruction shall come suddenly; overthrow and irretrievable ruin.
For this cause, suddenly cometh his doom, in a moment, shall he be torn in pieces and there be no mending.
16 For he rejoices in all things which God hates, and he is ruined by reason of impurity of soul.
These six things, doth Yahweh hate, yea, seven, are the abomination of his soul: —
17 The eye of the haughty, a tongue unjust, hands shedding the blood of the just;
Eyes that are lofty, a tongue that is false, and hands shedding innocent blood;
18 and a heart devising evil thoughts, and feet hastening to do evil, —[are hateful to God].
A heart contriving iniquitous devices, feet hasting to run into mischief;
19 An unjust witness kindles falsehoods, and brings on quarrels between brethren.
One that uttereth lies—a false witness, and one sending forth strifes between brethren.
20 [My] son, keep the laws of your father, and reject not the ordinances of your mother:
Observe thou, my son, the commandment of thy father, and do not decline from the instruction of thy mother:
21 but bind them upon your soul continually, and hang them as a chain about your neck.
Bind them upon thy heart continually, fasten them upon thy neck;
22 Whenever you walk, lead this along and let it be with you; that it may talk with you when you wake.
When thou walkest abroad, it shall guide thee, when thou sleepest, it shall watch over thee, when thou wakest, it shall speak to thee:
23 For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life; reproof also and correction:
For, a lamp, is the commandment, and, the instruction, a light, and, the way of life, are the reproofs of correction:
24 to keep you continually from a married woman, and from the calumny of a strange tongue.
To keep thee from the wicked woman, from the flattery of the tongue of her that is a stranger.
25 Let not the desire of beauty overcome you, neither be you caught by your eyes, neither be captivated with her eyelids.
Do not covet her beauty, in thy heart, neither let her take thee, by her eyelashes;
26 For the value of a harlot is as much as of one loaf; and a woman hunts for the precious souls of men.
Because, for the sake of an impure woman, [a man may be brought] even to a cake of bread, —and, a man’s wife, for a precious soul, may hunt!
27 Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments?
Can a man snatch up fire in his bosom, and, his clothes, not be burned?
28 or will any one walk on coals of fire, and not burn his feet?
Or can a man walk upon hot coals, and, his feet, not be burned?
29 So is he that goes in to a married woman; he shall not be held guiltless, neither any one that touches her.
So, he that goeth in unto his neighbour’s wife, no man shall be guiltless who toucheth her!
30 It is not to be wondered at if one should be taken stealing, for he steals that when hungry he may satisfy his soul:
Men despise not a thief, when he stealeth, to satisfy his appetite, because he is famished;
31 but if he should be taken, he shall repay sevenfold, and shall deliver himself by giving all his goods.
Yet, if found, he must pay back sevenfold, All the substance of his house, must he give:
32 But the adulterer through lack of sense procures destruction to his soul.
He that committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh sense, A destroyer of his own life, is he that doeth it;
33 He endures both pain and disgrace, and his reproach shall never be wiped off.
Smiting and shame, shall he find, and, his reproach, shall not be wiped out;
34 For the soul of her husband is full of jealousy: he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
For, jealousy, is the rage of a man, nor will he spare, in the day of avenging;
35 He will not forego [his] enmity for any ransom: neither will he be reconciled for many gifts.
He will not look, at any ransom, neither will he consent, though thou increase the bribe.
