Proverbs
Chapter 6
1 My son, if you promise to pay for your friend, if you have shaken hands with a stranger,
2 You are trapped by what you said, caught by your own words.
3 Do this now, my child, and save yourself, when you are in your friend’s power; go, lower yourself, and make peace with your friend.
4 Do not let your eyes fall asleep, or your eyelids get drowsy.
5 Escape like a deer from the hunter, and like a bird from the person who catches birds.
6 Look at the ant, you lazy person; watch how it does things and learn.
7 Without a leader, watcher, or ruler,
8 She gets her food in the summer and collects her food at harvest time.
9 How long will you sleep, you lazy person? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 Just a bit more sleep, a bit more rest, a bit more folding of the hands to rest.
11 Your poverty will come like a traveler, and your need like an armed person.
12 A bad person, an evil man, speaks with a twisted mouth.
13 He signals with his eyes, he communicates with his feet, he instructs with his fingers.
14 He has evil plans in his heart, he always thinks of harm; he spreads conflict.
15 So his trouble will come quickly; he will be quickly destroyed with no cure.
16 God hates these six things; indeed, seven are detestable to Him:
17 An arrogant stare, a deceitful speech, and hands that harm the innocent,
18 A heart that plans evil ideas, feet that quickly run to trouble,
19 A person who lies as a witness and someone who causes arguments among brothers.
20 My child, follow your father’s instruction and do not ignore your mother’s teaching.
21 Keep them always in your heart, and wrap them around your neck.
22 When you go, it will guide you; when you sleep, it will watch over you; and when you wake up, it will speak to you.
23 The commandment is a lamp, the law is light, and corrections that teach are the path to life.
24 To protect you from a bad woman, from the smooth talk of a stranger.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart; do not let her capture you with her eyes.
26 A loose woman can reduce a man to poverty, and a cheating wife can endanger a valuable life.
27 Can someone hold fire close and not burn their clothes?
28 Can someone walk on hot coals without burning their feet?
29 Anyone who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife or touches her will not be innocent.
30 People do not hate a thief if he steals to feed himself when he is hungry.
31 If he is caught, he must repay seven times what he took; he must give everything he owns.
32 Anyone who cheats with a woman is unwise; doing this harms his own life.
33 He will get hurt and disgrace, and his shame will never go away.
34 Jealousy makes a man very angry, so he won’t show mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept a payment; nor will he be satisfied, even if you give many gifts.