Proverbs 6

¹My son , if you have security for your neighbor , have given your pledge for a stranger ,

²if you are snared in the words of your mouth , caught in the words of your mouth ,

³then do this , my son , and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor : go , hasten , and plead urgently with your neighbor .

⁴Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber ;

⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler .

⁶Go to the ant , O sluggard ; consider her ways , and be wise .

⁷Without having any chief , officer , or ruler ,

⁸she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest .

⁹How long will you lie there, O sluggard ? When will you arise from your sleep ?

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

¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber , and want like an armed man .

¹²A worthless person , a wicked man , goes about with crooked speech ,

¹³winks with his eyes , signals with his feet , points with his finger ,

¹⁴with perverted heart devises evil , continually sowing discord ;

¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly ; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing .

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates , seven that are an abomination to him :

¹⁷haughty eyes , a lying tongue , and hands that shed innocent blood ,

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans , feet that make haste to run to evil ,

¹⁹a false witness who breathes out lies , and one who sows discord among brothers .

²⁰My son , keep your father’s commandment , and forsake not your mother’s teaching .

²¹Bind them on your heart always ; tie them around your neck .

²²When you walk , they will lead you; when you lie down , they will watch over you; and when you awake , they will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light , and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life ,

²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman , from the smooth tongue of the adulteress .

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart , and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes ;

²⁶for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread , but a married woman hunts down a precious life .

²⁷Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned ?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched ?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife ; none who touches her will go unpunished .

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry ,

³¹but if he is caught , he will pay sevenfold ; he will give all the goods of his house .

³²He who commits adultery lacks sense ; he who does it destroys himself .

³³He will get wounds and dishonor , and his disgrace will not be wiped away .

³⁴For jealousy makes a man furious , and he will not spare when he takes revenge .

³⁵He will accept no compensation ; he will refuse though you multiply gifts .