Wise advice
6 My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor
or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,
2 you will be trapped by your words;
you will be caught by your words.
3 Do this, my son, to get out of it,
for you have come under the control of your neighbor.
So go, humble yourself,[a] and pester your neighbor.
4 Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
5 Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter,
like a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy person;
observe its ways and grow wise.
7 The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.
8 Even so, it gets its food in summer;
gathers its provisions at harvest.
9 How long, lazy person, will you lie down?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to lie down—
11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
destitution like a warrior.
12 Worthless people and guilty people
go around with crooked talk.
13 They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet,
and point with their fingers.
14 Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil;
they create controversies all the time.
15 Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them;
they will be quickly broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven things detestable to him:
17 snobbish eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that spill innocent blood,
18 a heart set on wicked plans,
feet that run quickly to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes lies,
and one who causes conflicts among relatives.
Danger of adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command;
don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them on your heart for all time;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk around, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will protect you;
when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
23 The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;
corrective teaching is the path of life.
24 They guard you from the evil woman,
from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
25 Don’t desire her beauty in secret;
don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
26 for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread,[b]
but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
and his clothes not get burned?
28 If a man walks on hot coals,
don’t his feet get burned?
29 So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife;
anyone who touches her will be punished.
30 People don’t despise a thief if he steals
to fill his starving stomach.
31 But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold;
he must give all the riches of his house.
32 He who commits adultery is senseless.
Doing so, he destroys himself.
33 He is wounded and disgraced.
His shame will never be wiped away.
34 Jealousy makes a man rage;
he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.
35 He won’t accept compensation;
he’ll refuse even a large bribe.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:3 Heb uncertain
- Proverbs 6:26 Heb uncertain