1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have struck hands in pledge for another, |
2 if you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth, |
3 then do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:
Go and humble yourself;
press your plea with your neighbor! |
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids. |
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler. |
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! |
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler, |
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest. |
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep? |
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest- |
11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.1 6:11 Or like a vagrant / and scarcity like a beggar |
12 A scoundrel and villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth, |
13 who winks with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers, |
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart-
he always stirs up dissension. |
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy. |
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him: |
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood, |
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil, |
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. |
20 My son, keep your father's commands
and do not forsake your mother's teaching. |
21 Bind them upon your heart forever;
fasten them around your neck. |
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you. |
23 For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life, |
24 keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. |
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes, |
26 for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life. |
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned? |
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched? |
29 So is he who sleeps with another man's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished. |
30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. |
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house. |
32 But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself. |
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away; |
34 for jealousy arouses a husband's fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. |
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse the bribe, however great it is. |
