Proverbs 6

1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have given your hand in pledge for a stranger,

2you are trapped by the words of your mouth, caught by the words of your mouth.

3So do this, my son, and free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: go, humble yourself, and press your neighbor hard.

4Do not give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

5Free yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, you lazy person; watch her ways and become wise.

7She has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

8yet she prepares her food in summer and gathers her provisions at harvest.

9How long will you lie there, you lazy person? When will you get up from your sleep?

10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

11and your poverty will come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

12A worthless person, a wicked man, goes around with a crooked mouth,

13winking with his eyes, signaling with his feet, pointing with his fingers,

14with perversity in his heart; he plots evil at all times; he stirs up conflict.

15So disaster will come on him suddenly; in an instant he will be broken beyond healing.

16There are six things Yahweh hates, seven that are detestable to him:

17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that hurry to run to evil,

19a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who stirs up conflict among brothers.

20My son, keep your father’s command, and do not abandon your mother’s teaching.

21Tie them on your heart always; fasten them around your neck.

22When you walk, it will guide you; when you lie down, it will watch over you; and when you wake up, it will talk with you.

23For the command is a lamp and the teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,

24to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.

25Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her captivate you with her eyes.

26For the price of a prostitute is a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife hunts for a precious life.

27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

28Or can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

29So it is with the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

31Yet if he is caught, he must pay back sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

32The man who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense; whoever does it destroys himself.

33He will get wounds and disgrace, and his shame will never be wiped away.

34For jealousy is a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy on the day of revenge.

35He will not accept any compensation; he will not be appeased, though you offer many bribes.