Proverbs 6
1 My son, suppose you have pledged to guarantee your neighbor's debt, or you have shaken hands in agreement with a stranger,
My son! If you have been guarantor for your friend, Have struck your hand for a stranger,
2 then you've trapped yourself by what you promised, you've been caught by what you said.
Have been snared with sayings of your mouth, Have been captured with sayings of your mouth,
3 So this is what you have to do. You need to get out of it, because you've put yourself in that person's power. Go to your neighbor in all humility and ask him to release you from the commitment.
Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For you have come into the hand of your friend. Go, trample on yourself, and strengthen your friend,
4 Don't delay, saying that you'll sleep on it. Don't rest until you've done it.
Do not give sleep to your eyes, And slumber to your eyelids,
5 Get out of it like a gazelle escaping from a trap, like a bird from a bird-catcher's net.
Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 Go and observe the ants, you slacker! Learn from what they do and become wise.
Go to the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
7 They don't have a leader, an officer, or a ruler,
Which has no captain, overseer, and ruler,
8 yet they work hard during the summer getting their food, gathering what they need during the harvest.
She prepares her bread in summer, She has gathered her food in harvest.
9 So how long are you going to lie there, you slacker? When are you going to get up from your sleep?
Until when, O slothful one, do you lie? When do you arise from your sleep?
10 You may say, “Please, just a little more sleep, a little longer snooze, a little more folding of the arms to rest”—
A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will attack you like a robber, destitution like an armed warrior.
And your poverty has come as a traveler, And your want as an armed man.
12 Rebellious and wicked people go around telling lies,
A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
13 winking slyly, giving sneaky foot gestures, rudely pointing with their fingers.
Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
14 Their warped minds plot evil schemes; they're always causing trouble.
Contrariness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, He sends forth contentions.
15 As a result, disaster falls suddenly on such people; in just a moment they're destroyed without hope of healing.
Therefore his calamity comes suddenly, He is broken instantly—and no healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven things that he absolutely detests:
These six has YHWH hated, Indeed, seven [are] abominations to His soul:
17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that murder the innocent,
High eyes, False tongues, And hands shedding innocent blood,
18 a mind that plots evil schemes, feet that hurriedly run to do wrong,
A heart devising thoughts of vanity, Feet hastening to run to evil,
19 a false witness that speaks lies, those who caused arguments in families.
A false witness [who] breathes out lies, And one sending forth contentions between brothers.
20 My son, pay attention to your father's instruction, and don't reject your mother's teaching.
Keep, my son, the command of your father, And do not leave the law of your mother.
21 Keep them always in mind. Tie them around your neck.
Bind them on your heart continually, Tie them on your neck.
22 They will lead you as you walk along; they will watch over you as you sleep; when you wake up they will talk with you.
In your going up and down, it leads you, In your lying down, it watches over you, And you have awoken—it talks [with] you.
23 For the instruction is a lamp, and the teaching is a light. The correction that comes from discipline is the way to life.
For the command [is] a lamp, And the Law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
24 It will protect you from an evil woman and the seductive words of a prostitute.
To preserve you from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Don't let your mind lust after her beauty, or let her hypnotize you with her fluttering eyelashes.
Do not desire her beauty in your heart, And do not let her take you with her eyelids.
26 You can buy a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery with another man's wife can cost you your life.
For a harlot consumes to a cake of bread, And an adulteress hunts the precious soul.
27 Can you put fire in your lap and not burn your clothes?
Does a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burned?
28 Can you walk on hot coals and not scorch your feet?
Does a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
29 It's the same for anyone who sleeps with another man's wife. No one who touches her will remain unpunished.
So [is] he who has gone in to the wife of his neighbor, None who touches her is innocent.
30 People don't condemn a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he's hungry.
They do not despise the thief, When he steals to fill his soul when he is hungry,
31 But if he's caught, he has to pay back seven times what he stole, even if it means handing over everything he has in his house.
And being found he repays sevenfold, He gives all the substance of his house.
32 Any man who commits adultery with a woman has no sense; he who does so destroys himself.
He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks heart, He who does it is destroying his soul.
33 He will be wounded and dishonored. His disgrace will never be removed.
He finds a stroke and shame, And his reproach is not wiped away,
34 For jealousy makes a husband furious, and he won't hold back when he takes revenge.
For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he does not spare in a day of vengeance.
35 He refuses any compensation, and won't be paid off, however big the amount.
He does not accept the appearance of any atonement, Indeed, he does not consent, Though you multiply bribes!
