Proverbs 6
1 My son! If you have been guarantor for your friend, Have struck your hand for a stranger,
My son, if you set aside your money as a guarantee for your neighbor's loan, if you gave your promise for a loan of someone you do not know,
2 Have been snared with sayings of your mouth, Have been captured with sayings of your mouth,
then you have laid a trap for yourself by your promise and you have been caught by the words of your mouth.
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,
When you are caught by your words, my son, do this and save yourself, since you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor; go and humble yourself and make your case before your neighbor.
4 Do not give sleep to your eyes, And slumber to your eyelids,
Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber.
5 Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
Look at the ant, you lazy person, consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Which has no captain, overseer, and ruler,
It has no commander, officer, or ruler,
8 She prepares her bread in summer, She has gathered her food in harvest.
yet it prepares its food in the summer and during the harvest it stores up what it will eat.
9 Until when, O slothful one, do you lie? When do you arise from your sleep?
How long will you sleep, you lazy person? When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest”—
11 And your poverty has come as a traveler, And your want as an armed man.
and your poverty will come like a robber and your needs like an armed soldier.
12 A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
A worthless person—a wicked man— lives by the crookedness of his speech,
13 Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
winking his eyes, making signals with his feet and pointing with his fingers.
14 Contrariness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, He sends forth contentions.
He plots evil with deceit in his heart; he always stirs up discord.
15 Therefore his calamity comes suddenly, He is broken instantly—and no healing.
Therefore his disaster will overtake him in an instant; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16 These six has YHWH hated, Indeed, seven [are] abominations to His soul:
There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that are disgusting to him.
17 High eyes, False tongues, And hands shedding innocent blood,
The eyes of a proud person, a tongue that lies, hands that shed the blood of innocent people,
18 A heart devising thoughts of vanity, Feet hastening to run to evil,
a heart that invents wicked schemes, feet that quickly run to do evil,
19 A false witness [who] breathes out lies, And one sending forth contentions between brothers.
a witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers.
20 Keep, my son, the command of your father, And do not leave the law of your mother.
My son, obey the command of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
21 Bind them on your heart continually, Tie them on your neck.
Always bind them on your heart; tie them about 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.
When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you wake up, they will teach you.
23 For the command [is] a lamp, And the Law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
For the commands are a lamp, and the teaching is a light; the corrections that come by instruction are the way of life.
24 To preserve you from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
It keeps you from the immoral woman, from the smooth words of an immoral woman.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, And do not let her take you with her eyelids.
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.
26 For a harlot consumes to a cake of bread, And an adulteress hunts the precious soul.
Sleeping with a prostitute can cost the price of a loaf of bread, but the wife of another may cost you your very life.
27 Does a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burned?
Can a man carry a fire against his chest without burning his clothes?
28 Does a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?
29 So [is] he who has gone in to the wife of his neighbor, None who touches her is innocent.
So is the man who sleeps with his neighbor's wife; the one who sleeps with her will not go unpunished.
30 They do not despise the thief, When he steals to fill his soul when he is hungry,
People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his need when he is hungry.
31 And being found he repays sevenfold, He gives all the substance of his house.
Yet if he is caught, he will pay back seven times what he stole; he must give up everything of value in his house.
32 He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks heart, He who does it is destroying his soul.
The one who commits adultery has no sense; the one who does it destroys himself.
33 He finds a stroke and shame, And his reproach is not wiped away,
Wounds and shame are what he deserves and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he does not spare in a day of vengeance.
For jealousy makes a man furious; he will show no mercy when he takes his revenge.
35 He does not accept the appearance of any atonement, Indeed, he does not consent, Though you multiply bribes!
He will accept no compensation and he cannot be bought off, though you offer him many gifts.
