6:1 My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,
Or have given a handshake for a stranger,
6:2 If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth,
Or caught by the words of your mouth,
6:3 Then do this, my son, and save yourself:
Since you have come into the ①hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.
▷ ①Lit palm
6:4 Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
6:5 Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6:6 Go to the ant, you ①lazy one,
Observe its ways and be wise,
▷ ①Lit idle one
6:7 Which, having no chief,
Officer, or ruler,
6:8 Prepares its food in the summer
And gathers its provision in the harvest.
6:9 How long will you lie down, you ①lazy one?
When will you arise from your sleep?
▷ ①Lit idle one
6:10 “A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to ①rest,”
▷ ①Lit lie down
6:11 Then your poverty will come in like a ①drifter,
And your need like ②an armed man.
▷ ①Lit one who moves about ②Lit a man with a shield
6:12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,
6:13 Who winks with his eyes, who ①signals with his feet,
Who ②points with his fingers;
▷ ①Lit scrapes ②Lit instructs with
6:14 Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil,
Who ①spreads strife.
▷ ①Lit sends out
6:15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
6:16 There are six things that the LORD hates,
Seven that are an abomination ①to Him:
▷ ①Lit of His soul
6:17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
6:18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
6:19 A false witness who declares lies,
And one who ①spreads strife among brothers.
▷ ①Lit sends out
6:20 My son, comply with the commandment of your father,
And do not ignore the ①teaching of your mother;
▷ ①Or law
6:21 Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
6:22 When you walk, ①they will guide you;
When you sleep, ②they will watch over you;
And when you awake, ③they will talk to you.
▷ ①Lit she ②Lit she ③Lit she
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the ①teaching is light;
And rebukes for discipline are the way of life
▷ ①Or law
6:24 To keep you from the evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.
6:25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
6:26 For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread,
And ①an adulteress hunts for a precious life.
▷ ①Lit a man’s wife
6:27 Can anyone take fire in his lap
And his clothes not be burned?
6:28 Or can a person walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?
6:29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her will not ①go unpunished.
▷ ①Lit be innocent
6:30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
To satisfy ①himself when he is hungry;
▷ ①Lit his soul
6:31 But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much;
He must give up all the property of his house.
6:32 One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking ①sense;
He who would destroy ②himself commits it.
▷ ①Lit heart ②Lit his soul
6:33 He will find wounds and disgrace,
And his shame will not be removed.
6:34 For jealousy ①enrages a man,
And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.
▷ ①Lit is the rage of
6:35 He will not ①accept any settlement,
Nor will he be ②satisfied though you make it a large gift.
▷ ①Lit lift up the face of any ②Lit willing