Proverbs

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,

if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

² if you have been trapped by the words of your lips,

ensnared by the words of your mouth,

³ then do this, my son, to free yourself,

for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:

Go, humble yourself, ^[a]

and press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes

or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, ^[b]

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶ Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker;

observe its ways and become wise.

⁷ Without a commander,

without an overseer or ruler,

⁸ it prepares its provisions in summer;

it gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, O slacker?

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 upon you like a robber,

and need like a bandit.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,

walks with a perverse mouth,

¹³ winking his eyes, speaking with his feet,

and pointing with his fingers.

¹⁴ With deceit in his heart he devises evil;

he continually sows discord.

¹⁵ Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.

¹⁶ There are six things that 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 run swiftly to evil,

¹⁹ a false witness who gives false testimony,

and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commandment,

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

²¹ Bind them always upon your heart;

tie them around your neck.

²² When you walk, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³ For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

²⁴ to keep you from the evil woman,

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. ^[c]

²⁵ Do not lust in your heart for her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes. ^[d]

²⁶ For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, ^[e]

and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

²⁷ Can a man embrace fire

and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals

without scorching his feet?

²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰ Men do not despise the thief

if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

³¹ Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold;

he must give up all the wealth of his house.

³² He who commits adultery lacks judgment;

whoever does so destroys himself.

³³ Wounds and dishonor will befall him,

and his reproach will never be wiped away.

³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,

and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

³⁵ He will not be appeased by any ransom,

or persuaded by lavish gifts.