Home Master Index
←Prev   Proverbs 6 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


6:1  My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,
6:2  you will be trapped by your words; you will be caught by your words.
6:3  Do this, my son, to get out of it, for you have come under the control of your neighbor. So go, humble yourself, and pester your neighbor.
6:4  Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.
6:5  Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6:6  Go to the ant, you lazy person; observe its ways and grow wise.
6:7  The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.
6:8  Even so, it gets its food in summer; gathers its provisions at harvest.
6:9  How long, lazy person, will you lie down? When will you rise from your sleep?
6:10  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to lie down—
6:11  and poverty will come on you like a prowler, destitution like a warrior.
6:12  Worthless people and guilty people go around with crooked talk.
6:13  They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet, and point with their fingers.
6:14  Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil; they create controversies all the time.
6:15  Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them; they will be quickly broken beyond healing.
6:16  There are six things that the Lord hates, seven things detestable to him:
6:17  snobbish eyes, a lying tongue, hands that spill innocent blood,
6:18  a heart set on wicked plans, feet that run quickly to evil,
6:19  a false witness who breathes lies, and one who causes conflicts among relatives.
6:20  My son, keep your father’s command; don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
6:21  Bind them on your heart for all time; fasten them around your neck.
6:22  When you walk around, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will protect you; when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
6:23  The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light; corrective teaching is the path of life.
6:24  They guard you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
6:25  Don’t desire her beauty in secret; don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
6:26  for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.
6:27  Can a man scoop fire into his lap and his clothes not get burned?
6:28  If a man walks on hot coals, don’t his feet get burned?
6:29  So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife; anyone who touches her will be punished.
6:30  People don’t despise a thief if he steals to fill his starving stomach.
6:31  But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give all the riches of his house.
6:32  He who commits adultery is senseless. Doing so, he destroys himself.
6:33  He is wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be wiped away.
6:34  Jealousy makes a man rage; he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.
6:35  He won’t accept compensation; he’ll refuse even a large bribe.