< Proverbs 6 >
1 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 then you have laid a trap for yourself by your promise and you have been caught by the words of your mouth.
3 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 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber.
5 Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Look at the ant, you lazy person, consider her ways, and be wise.
7 It has no commander, officer, or ruler,
8 yet it prepares its food in the summer and during the harvest it stores up what it will eat.
9 How long will you sleep, you lazy person? When will you rise from your sleep?
10 “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest”—
11 and your poverty will come like a robber and your needs like an armed soldier.
12 A worthless person—a wicked man— lives by the crookedness of his speech,
13 winking his eyes, making signals with his feet and pointing with his fingers.
14 He plots evil with deceit in his heart; he always stirs up discord.
15 Therefore his disaster will overtake him in an instant; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that are disgusting to him.
17 The eyes of a proud person, a tongue that lies, hands that shed the blood of innocent people,
18 a heart that invents wicked schemes, feet that quickly run to do evil,
19 a witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers.
20 My son, obey the command of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
21 Always bind them on your heart; tie them about your neck.
22 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 commands are a lamp, and the teaching is a light; the corrections that come by instruction are the way of life.
24 It keeps you from the immoral woman, from the smooth words of an immoral woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.
26 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 Can a man carry a fire against his chest without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?
29 So is the man who sleeps with his neighbor's wife; the one who sleeps with her will not go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his need when he is hungry.
31 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 The one who commits adultery has no sense; the one who does it destroys himself.
33 Wounds and shame are what he deserves and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious; he will show no mercy when he takes his revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation and he cannot be bought off, though you offer him many gifts.
