Proverbs 6

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

² you are snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your mouth.

³ Do this then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have come into your neighbor's power:
go, humble yourself, and press your neighbor.

⁴ Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;

⁵ free yourself like a gazelle from a hunter's hand,
like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;
observe her ways, and be wise.

⁷ Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,

⁸ she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,

¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,

¹³ winking his eyes, signaling with his feet,
pointing with his fingers,

¹⁴ with perverted heart devising evil,
continually sowing discord.

¹⁵ Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken—beyond healing.

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:

¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that hurry to run toward evil,

¹⁹ a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰ My son, keep your father's command,
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹ Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.

²² When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.

²³ For the command is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

²⁴ to keep you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²⁵ Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes,

²⁶ for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,
but a married woman hunts a precious life.

²⁷ Can a man carry fire in his lap
without his clothes being burned?

²⁸ Or can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?

²⁹ So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰ People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

³¹ yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold;
he must give all the wealth of his house.

³² He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.

³³ He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away,

³⁴ for jealousy enrages a man,
and he will show no mercy on the day of vengeance.

³⁵ He will not accept any compensation;
he will not be appeased though you multiply gifts.