Proverbs 6- 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]
- 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.
- [11] Or like a vagrant / and scarcity like a beggar