Proverbs 6

Warnings Against Folly

6My son,^g if you have put up security^h for your neighbor,ⁱ

if you have shaken hands in pledge^j for a stranger,

²you have been trapped by what you said,

ensnared by the words of your mouth.

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

since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:

Go—to the point of exhaustion—^a

and give your neighbor no rest!

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes,

no slumber to your eyelids.^k

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle^l from the hand of the hunter,^m

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.ⁿ

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard;^o

consider its ways and be wise!

⁷It has no commander,

no overseer or ruler,

⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer^p

and gathers its food at harvest.^q

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard?^r

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest^s—

¹¹and poverty^t will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A troublemaker and a villain,

who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

¹³who winks maliciously with his eye,^u

signals with his feet

and motions with his fingers,^v

¹⁴who plots evil^w with deceit in his heart—

he always stirs up conflict.^x

¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;^y

he will suddenly^z be destroyed—without remedy.^a

¹⁶There are six things the Lord hates,^b

seven that are detestable to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes,^c

a lying tongue,^d

hands that shed innocent blood,^e

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,^f

¹⁹a false witness^g who pours out lies^h

and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.ⁱ

Warning Against Adultery

²⁰My son,^j keep your father’s command

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.^k

²¹Bind them always on your heart;

fasten them around your neck.^l

²²When you walk, they will guide you;

when you sleep, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this command is a lamp,

this teaching is a light,^m

and correction and instruction

are the way to life,ⁿ

²⁴keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,

from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.^o

²⁵Do not lust in your heart after her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,

but another man’s wife preys on your very life.^p

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap

without his clothes being burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being scorched?

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

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

³¹Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,^s

though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

³²But a man who commits adultery^t has no sense;^u

whoever does so destroys himself.

³³Blows and disgrace are his lot,

and his shame will never^v be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy^w arouses a husband’s fury,^x

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not accept any compensation;

he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.^y