1 Practical Warnings My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,Have struck your 6:1 Lit palms handsin pledgefor a stranger,
2 Ifyou have been snared with the words of your mouth,Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
3 Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;Since you have come into the 6:3Lit palm hand of your neighbor,Go, humble yourself, and badger your neighbor.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes,Nor slumber to your eyelids;
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle fromthe hunter’shandAnd like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 ¶Go to the ant, O sluggard,Observe her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no chief,Officer or ruler,
8 Prepares her food in the summerAndgathers her provision in the harvest.
9 How long will you lie down, O sluggard?When will you arise from your sleep?
10 “A little sleep, a little slumber,A little folding of the hands to 6:10Lit lie down rest”—
11 Your poverty will come in like 6:11Lit one who walks a vagabondAnd your want like 6:11Lit a man with a shield an armed man.
12 ¶A vile person, a wicked man,Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
13 Who winks with his eyes, who 6:13Lit scrapes signals with his feet,Who 6:13Lit instructs points with his fingers;
14 Whowithperversity in his heart continually devises evil,Who 6:14Lit sends out spreads contentions.
15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
16 ¶There are six things which Yahweh hates,Even seven which are an abomination 6:16 Lit of His soul to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked thoughts,Feet that hasten to run to evil,
19 A false witnesswhobreathes out lies,And one who 6:19Lit sends out spreads strife among brothers.Warning Against Adultery
20 ¶My son, observe the commandment of your fatherAnd do not abandon the 6:20 Or instruction law of your mother;
21 Bind them continually on your heart;Tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk about, 6:22 Lit she they will lead you;When you sleep, 6:22 Lit she they will keep watch over you;And when you awake, 6:22 Lit she they will speak to you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the 6:23Or instruction law is light;And reproofs for discipline are the way of life
24 To keep you from the evil woman,From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
26 For on account of 6:26Or a woman who is a harlot a harlotone is reducedto a loaf of bread,And 6:26Or a woman of another man an adulteress hunts for the precious 6:26Lit soul life.
27 Can a man 6:27Lit snatch up take fire in his bosomAnd his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can a man walk on hot coalsAnd his feet not be scorched?
29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;Whoever touches her will not 6:29Lit be innocent go unpunished.
30 6:30Or Do not men...?; lit They do not Mendo not despise a thief if he stealsTo fill 6:30Lit his soul himself when he is hungry;
31 But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;He must give all the 6:31Or wealth substance of his house.
32 The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking a heartof wisdom;He who would destroy his soul does it.
33 Wounds and disgrace he will find,And his reproach will not be blotted out.
34 For jealousy 6:34Lit is the rage of enrages a man,And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will not 6:35Lit lift up the face of accept any ransom,He will not be willing though you give many bribes.