Proverbs 6
1 My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider,
My son, if someone has borrowed money from a friend or a stranger, and if you have promised that you will pay the money back if that person is unable to pay back the money he borrowed,
2 then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words.
you may be trapped by what you have agreed to do, [because if the one who borrowed the money is not able to pay it back, you will have to pay it]. What you have said that you will do will be like a snare to you.
3 Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend.
So, my son, I will tell you what you should do to escape from your difficulty, so that the moneylender does not get control over your [wealth: ] Humbly go to your friend and plead with him [to cancel the agreement]!
4 Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber.
Do not wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
5 Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom.
You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
7 For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader,
They do not have a king or a governor or any [other] person who rules them [and forces them to work],
8 she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat.
[but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
9 How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep?
[But], you lazy loafer, how long will you [continue to] sleep [RHQ]? Are you never going to get up from sleeping [and go to work]?
10 You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep,
You sleep a for a little time; [you say, “I will take] just a short nap.” You lie down and fold/lay your hands [across your chest] and rest;
11 and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you.
and suddenly you will become poor. It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.
12 An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth;
[I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
13 he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger.
by winking their eyes and moving their feet and making signs with their fingers, they signal [to their friends what they are intending/planning to do].
14 With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict.
They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
15 To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy.
But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
16 Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests:
There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
People who show by their eyes that they are very proud; people who lie [MTY]; people [SYN] who kill others [SYN] who have done nothing wrong;
18 a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil,
people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
19 a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.
people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
20 My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother.
My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
21 Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat.
Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
22 When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them.
[If you follow our advice, it will be as though] what we have taught you [PRS] will lead you, wherever you go. When you sleep, they will protect you. And when you wake up in the morning, they will teach/instruct you.
23 For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.
These commands and what we teach you [will be like] a lamp to light your path [MET]. When we rebuke you and correct/punish you, we will be showing you the road to having [a good] life.
24 So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider.
Heeding [PRS] these commands and things that we have taught you will enable you to keep away from immoral women and from [listening to] the enticing words of an adulterous woman.
25 Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks.
[Even] if such a woman is beautiful and has lovely eyes, do not desire to go with her. Do not let her persuade you to go with her (with her eyes/by the way she looks at you).
26 For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man.
[Do not forget that] you can hire a prostitute for only a loaf of bread, but [if you sleep with] another man’s wife, (it may cost you/you may lose) your life.
27 Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn?
Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
28 Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned?
Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
29 So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her.
[No]! And in the same way, anyone who (sleeps with/has sex with) another man’s wife will [suffer for doing that]. [He will certainly] [LIT] be punished severely.
30 Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul.
We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
31 Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house.
But [if he steals something and then] is caught [by the police], he will have to pay back (seven times as much as/much more than) he stole. He may need to sell everything that is in his house [to get enough money to pay it back].
32 But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul.
[But] a man who commits adultery with some woman is very foolish, [because] he is destroying his own self/soul [by what he is doing].
33 He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
[That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
34 For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication,
Because that woman’s husband will (be jealous/not want anyone else to sleep with her), he will become furious, and when he gets revenge, he will not act mercifully [toward the man who slept with his wife].
35 nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts.
And he will not accept any bribe/money, even if it is a big bribe, to (appease him/cause him to stop being angry).
