Proverbs 6
1 My son! If you have been guarantor for your friend, Have struck your hand for a stranger,
My son, if you have made yourself responsible for your neighbour, or given your word for another,
2 Have been snared with sayings of your mouth, Have been captured with sayings of your mouth,
You are taken as in a net by the words of your mouth, the sayings of your lips have overcome you.
3 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,
Do this, my son, and make yourself free, because you have come into the power of your neighbour; go without waiting, and make a strong request to your neighbour.
4 Do not give sleep to your eyes, And slumber to your eyelids,
Give no sleep to your eyes, or rest to them;
5 Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
Make yourself free, like the roe from the hand of the archer, and the bird from him who puts a net for her.
6 Go to the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise:
7 Which has no captain, overseer, and ruler,
Having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 She prepares her bread in summer, She has gathered her food in harvest.
She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.
9 Until when, O slothful one, do you lie? When do you arise from your sleep?
How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:
11 And your poverty has come as a traveler, And your want as an armed man.
Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man
12 A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;
13 Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers;
14 Contrariness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, He sends forth contentions.
His mind is ever designing evil: he lets loose violent acts.
15 Therefore his calamity comes suddenly, He is broken instantly—and no healing.
For this cause his downfall will be sudden; quickly he will be broken, and there will be no help for him.
16 These six has YHWH hated, Indeed, seven [are] abominations to His soul:
Six things are hated by the Lord; seven things are disgusting to him:
17 High eyes, False tongues, And hands shedding innocent blood,
Eyes of pride, a false tongue, hands which take life without cause;
18 A heart devising thoughts of vanity, Feet hastening to run to evil,
A heart full of evil designs, feet which are quick in running after sin;
19 A false witness [who] breathes out lies, And one sending forth contentions between brothers.
A false witness, breathing out untrue words, and one who lets loose violent acts among brothers.
20 Keep, my son, the command of your father, And do not leave the law of your mother.
My son, keep the rule of your father, and have in memory the teaching of your mother:
21 Bind them on your heart continually, Tie them on your neck.
Keep them ever folded in your heart, and have them hanging round your neck.
22 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.
In your walking, it will be your guide; when you are sleeping, it will keep watch over you; when you are awake, it will have talk with you.
23 For the command [is] a lamp, And the Law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
For the rule is a light, and the teaching a shining light; and the guiding words of training are the way of life.
24 To preserve you from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
They will keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, And do not let her take you with her eyelids.
Let not your heart's desire go after her fair body; let not her eyes take you prisoner.
26 For a harlot consumes to a cake of bread, And an adulteress hunts the precious soul.
For a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.
27 Does a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burned?
May a man take fire to his breast without burning his clothing?
28 Does a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
Or may one go on lighted coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 So [is] he who has gone in to the wife of his neighbor, None who touches her is innocent.
So it is with him who goes in to his neighbour's wife; he who has anything to do with her will not go free from punishment.
30 They do not despise the thief, When he steals to fill his soul when he is hungry,
Men do not have a low opinion of a thief who takes food when he is in need of it:
31 And being found he repays sevenfold, He gives all the substance of his house.
But if he is taken in the act he will have to give back seven times as much, giving up all his property which is in his house.
32 He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks heart, He who does it is destroying his soul.
He who takes another man's wife is without all sense: he who does it is the cause of destruction to his soul.
33 He finds a stroke and shame, And his reproach is not wiped away,
Wounds will be his and loss of honour, and his shame may not be washed away.
34 For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he does not spare in a day of vengeance.
For bitter is the wrath of an angry husband; in the day of punishment he will have no mercy.
35 He does not accept the appearance of any atonement, Indeed, he does not consent, Though you multiply bribes!
He will not take any payment; and he will not make peace with you though your money offerings are increased.
