Practical Warnings

6 My son, if you have put up esecurity for your neighbor,

have egiven your pledge for a stranger,

2  if you are fsnared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

3  then do this, my son, and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten,1 and gplead urgently with your neighbor.

4  hGive your eyes no sleep

and your eyelids no slumber;

5  save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,2

ilike a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6  jGo to kthe ant, O lsluggard;

consider her ways, and mbe wise.

7  nWithout having any chief,

oofficer, or ruler,

8  she prepares her bread pin summer

and qgathers her food in harvest.

9  rHow long will you lie there, lO sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

10  sA little sleep, a little slumber,

ta little sfolding of the hands to rest,

11  uand poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

12  vA worthless person, a wicked man,

goes about with wcrooked speech,

13  xwinks with his eyes, signals3 with his feet,

points with his finger,

14  with yperverted heart zdevises evil,

continually asowing discord;

15  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

bin a moment he will be broken cbeyond healing.

16  There are dsix things that the Lord hates,

dseven that are an abomination to him:

17  ehaughty eyes, fa lying tongue,

and ghands that shed innocent blood,

18  ha heart that devises wicked plans,

ifeet that make haste to run to evil,

19  ja false witness who kbreathes out lies,

and one who asows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

20  lMy son, keep your father’s commandment,

land forsake not your mother’s teaching.

21  mBind them on your heart always;

ntie them around your neck.

22  oWhen you walk, they4 will lead you;

owhen you lie down, they will pwatch over you;

and when you awake, they will talk with you.

23  For the commandment is qa lamp and the teaching a light,

and the rreproofs of discipline are the way of life,

24  to preserve you from the evil woman,5

from the smooth tongue of sthe adulteress.6

25  tDo not desire her beauty in your heart,

and do not let her capture you with her ueyelashes;

26  for vthe price of a prostitute is only wa loaf of bread,7

but a married woman8 xhunts down a precious life.

27  Can a man carry yfire next to his zchest

and his clothes not be burned?

28  Or can one awalk on hot coals

and his feet not be scorched?

29  So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

none who touches her bwill go unpunished.

30  People do not despise a thief if he steals

to csatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

31  but dif he is caught, he will pay esevenfold;

he will give all the goods 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 fjealousy makes a man furious,

and he will not spare when ghe takes revenge.

35  He will accept no compensation;

he will refuse though you multiply gifts.