Proverbs 6

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Practical Warnings

My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,

Have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,

Have been caught with the words of your mouth,

Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;

Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,

Go, humble yourself, and badger your neighbor.

Give no sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids;

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand

And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, O sluggard,

Observe her ways and be wise,

Which, having no chief,

Officer or ruler,

Prepares her food in the summer

And gathers her provision in the harvest.

How long will you lie down, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

“A little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to rest”—

Your poverty will come in like a vagabond

And your want like an armed man.

A vile person, a wicked man,

Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,

Who points with his fingers;

Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,

Who spreads contentions.

Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;

Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

There are six things which Yahweh hates,

Even seven which are an abomination to Him:

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked thoughts,

Feet that hasten to run to evil,

A false witness who breathes out lies,

And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Warning Against Adultery

My son, observe the commandment of your father

And do not abandon the law of your mother;

Bind them continually on your heart;

Tie them around your neck.

When you walk about, they will lead you;

When you sleep, they will keep watch over you;

And when you awake, they will speak to you.

For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light;

And reproofs for discipline are the way of life

To keep you from the evil woman,

From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,

And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom

And his clothes not be burned?

Or can a man walk on hot coals

And his feet not be scorched?

So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

Men do not despise a thief if he steals

To fill himself when he is hungry;

But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;

He must give all the substance of his house.

The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking a heart of wisdom;

He who would destroy his soul does it.

Wounds and disgrace he will find,

And his reproach will not be blotted out.

For jealousy enrages a man,

And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will not accept any ransom,

He will not be willing though you give many bribes.

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