Proverbs 6

Wise advice

¹My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor

or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,

²you will be trapped by your words;

you will be caught by your words.

³Do this, my son, to get out of it,

for you have come under the control of your neighbor.

So go, humble yourself, and pester your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes

or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter,

like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you lazy person;

observe its ways and grow wise.

⁷The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.

⁸Even so, it gets its food in summer;

gathers its provisions at harvest.

⁹How long, lazy person, will you lie down?

When will you rise from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the arms to lie down—

¹¹and poverty will come on you like a prowler,

¹²Worthless people and guilty people

go around with crooked talk.

¹³They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet,

and point with their fingers.

¹⁴Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil;

they create controversies all the time.

¹⁵Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them;

they will be quickly broken beyond healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates,

seven things detestable to him:

¹⁷snobbish eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that spill innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart set on wicked plans,

feet that run quickly to evil,

¹⁹a false witness who breathes lies,

and one who causes conflicts among relatives.

Danger of adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command;

don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.

²¹Bind them on your heart for all time;

fasten them around your neck.

²²When you walk around, they will lead you;

when you lie down, they will protect you;

when you awake, they will occupy your attention.

²³The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;

corrective teaching is the path of life.

²⁴They guard you from the evil woman,

from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.

²⁵Don’t desire her beauty in secret;

don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap

and his clothes not get burned?

²⁸If a man walks on hot coals,

don’t his feet get burned?

²⁹So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife;

anyone who touches her will be punished.

³⁰People don’t despise a thief if he steals

to fill his starving stomach.

³¹But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold;

he must give all the riches of his house.

³²He who commits adultery is senseless.

Doing so, he destroys himself.

³³He is wounded and disgraced.

His shame will never be wiped away.

³⁴Jealousy makes a man rage;

he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.

³⁵He won’t accept compensation;

he’ll refuse even a large bribe.