Proverbs 6

The sluggard and the ant

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,a ²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,b ³then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. ⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.c

⁷Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, ⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest. ⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up 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 need like a bandit. ¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth, ¹³winking his eyes, speaking with his feet, and pointing with his fingers.

¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord. ¹⁵Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery. ¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:d ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,e ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,f ¹⁹a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

The fire you cannot carry

²⁰My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck. ²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,g ²⁴to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. ²⁵Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. ²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. ³⁰Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger. ³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.h

³²He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. ³³Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away. ³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.