Proverbs6

¹ My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Or have given a handshake for a stranger,

² If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth, Or caught by the words of your mouth,

³ Then do this, my son, and save yourself: Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.

⁴ Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids;

⁵ Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶ Go to the ant, you lazy one, Observe its ways and be wise,

⁷ Which, having no chief, Officer, or ruler,

⁸ Prepares its food in the summer And gathers its provision in the harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie down, you lazy one? When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁰ “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,”

¹¹ Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man, Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,

¹³ Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who points with his fingers;

¹⁴ Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil, Who spreads strife.

¹⁵ Therefore his disaster will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates, Seven that are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,

¹⁹ A false witness who declares lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

²⁰ My son, comply with the commandment of your father, And do not ignore the teaching of your mother;

²¹ Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck.

²² When you walk, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you.

²³ For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And rebukes for discipline are the way of life

²⁴ To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.

²⁵ Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

²⁶ For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for a precious life.

²⁷ Can anyone take fire in his lap And his clothes not be burned?

²⁸ Or can a person walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?

²⁹ So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

³⁰ People do not despise a thief if he steals To satisfy himself when he is hungry;

³¹ But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much; He must give up all the property of his house.

³² One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself commits it.

³³ He will find wounds and disgrace, And his shame will not be removed.

³⁴ For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.

³⁵ He will not accept any settlement, Nor will he be satisfied though you make it a large gift.