Proverbs 6
1 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,
My son, if you have made yourself responsible for your neighbour, or given your word for another,
2 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.
You are taken as in a net by the words of your mouth, the sayings of your lips have overcome you.
3 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]!
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 wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
Give no sleep to your eyes, or rest to them;
5 Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
Make yourself free, like the roe from the hand of the archer, and the bird from him who puts a net for her.
6 You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise:
7 They do not have a king or a governor or any [other] person who rules them [and forces them to work],
Having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 [but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.
9 [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]?
How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?
10 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;
A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:
11 and suddenly you will become poor. It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.
Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man
12 [I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;
13 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].
Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers;
14 They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
His mind is ever designing evil: he lets loose violent acts.
15 But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
For this cause his downfall will be sudden; quickly he will be broken, and there will be no help for him.
16 There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
Six things are hated by the Lord; seven things are disgusting to him:
17 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;
Eyes of pride, a false tongue, hands which take life without cause;
18 people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
A heart full of evil designs, feet which are quick in running after sin;
19 people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
A false witness, breathing out untrue words, and one who lets loose violent acts among brothers.
20 My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
My son, keep the rule of your father, and have in memory the teaching of your mother:
21 Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
Keep them ever folded in your heart, and have them hanging round your neck.
22 [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.
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 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.
For the rule is a light, and the teaching a shining light; and the guiding words of training are the way of life.
24 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.
They will keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman.
25 [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).
Let not your heart's desire go after her fair body; let not her eyes take you prisoner.
26 [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.
For a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.
27 Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
May a man take fire to his breast without burning his clothing?
28 Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
Or may one go on lighted coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 [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.
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 We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
Men do not have a low opinion of a thief who takes food when he is in need of it:
31 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].
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 [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].
He who takes another man's wife is without all sense: he who does it is the cause of destruction to his soul.
33 [That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
Wounds will be his and loss of honour, and his shame may not be washed away.
34 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].
For bitter is the wrath of an angry husband; in the day of punishment he will have no mercy.
35 And he will not accept any bribe/money, even if it is a big bribe, to (appease him/cause him to stop being angry).
He will not take any payment; and he will not make peace with you though your money offerings are increased.
