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 thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,
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.
Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,
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 now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,
4 Do not wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,
5 Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See 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],
Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,
8 [but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.
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]?
Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy 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 slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
11 and suddenly you will become poor. It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.
And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.
12 [I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
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].
Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
14 They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
Frowardness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.
15 But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken — and no healing.
16 There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven [are] abominations to His soul.
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 high — tongues false — And hands shedding innocent blood —
18 people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
A heart devising thoughts of vanity — Feet hasting to run to evil —
19 people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
A false witness [who] doth breathe out lies — And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
20 My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.
21 Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy 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 thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked — it talketh [with] thee.
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 a lamp [is] the command, And the law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
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.
To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a 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).
Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.
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 harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.
27 Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?
28 Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
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 [is] he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.
30 We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,
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].
And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.
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 committeth adultery [with] a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.
33 [That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped 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 jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.
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 accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!
