Proverbs 6

Practical Warnings

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,[#Job 17:3]

have given your pledge for a stranger,

²if you are snared in the words of your mouth,[#5:22]

caught in the words of your mouth,

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

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

⁴Give your eyes no sleep[#20:13; Ps. 132:4]

and your eyelids no slumber;

⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[#6:5 Hebrew lacks]

like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, O sluggard;[#Job 12:7; #30:25; #10:26]

consider her ways, and be wise.

⁷Without having any chief,[#30:27]

officer, or ruler,

⁸she prepares her bread in summer[#10:5]

and gathers her food in harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, O sluggard?[#Jonah 1:6; #6]

When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,[#24:33]

a little folding of the hands to rest,

¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber,[#24:34]

and want like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man,[#16:27]

goes about with crooked speech,

¹³winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,[#10:10; Ps. 35:19; #6:13 Hebrew]

points with his finger,

¹⁴with perverted heart devises evil,[#2:12; #Mic. 2:13:29]

continually sowing discord;

¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates,[#Job 5:19]

seven that are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue,[#8:13; 16:5; 21:4; #12:22; 17:7; Ps. 31:18; 120:2]

and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans,[#Gen. 6:5]

feet that make haste to run to evil,

¹⁹a false witness who breathes out lies,[#Ps. 27:12; #12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9]

and one who sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s commandment,[#1:8]

and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

²¹Bind them on your heart always;[#3:3]

tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will lead you;[#3:23, 24; #6:22 Hebrew ; three times in this verse]

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,[#Ps. 119:105; Ps. 13:3]

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman,[#6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields]

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart,[#Matt. 5:28]

and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;

²⁶for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,[#29:3; #28:21; 1 Sam. 2:36; #6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate)]

but a married woman hunts down a precious life.

²⁷Can a man carry fire next to his chest[#Job 31:12; #Ps. 79:12]

and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals[#Isa. 43:2]

and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to 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;[#Ex. 22:4; #Ps. 79:12]

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,[#27:4; Song 8:6]

and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation;

he will refuse though you multiply gifts.