Proverbs 6

6 ¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, ²you have been snared by the words of your mouth, caught by the words of your mouth. ³Then do this, my son, and free yourself, for you are now at your neighbor's mercy: go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor. ⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand, like a bird from the hand of the trapper.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. ⁷Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, ⁸she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, ¹³winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his fingers, ¹⁴with perverted heart he devises evil, continually sowing discord; ¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

¹⁶There are six things our Father hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, ¹⁹a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Your Father's Words, Your Shield

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. ²¹Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. ²²When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. ²³For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, ²⁴to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; ²⁶for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. ²⁷Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? ²⁹So is he who sleeps with his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, ³¹but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house. ³²He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. ³³He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance. ³⁵He will accept no compensation; he will refuse no matter how large the bribe.