Proverbs

¹My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger, ²you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth. ³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor. ⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. ⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; ⁷which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, ⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. ⁹How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep— ¹¹so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man. ¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth, ¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers, ¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord. ¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. ¹⁶There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him: ¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. ²⁰My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. ²²When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you. ²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, ²⁴to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue. ²⁵Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. ²⁶For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life. ²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? ²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished. ³⁰Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry, ³¹but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house. ³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. ³³He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away. ³⁴For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. ³⁵He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.