THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

 

Proverbs 6

1 ¶ My son, if you guarantee a loan for your friend, if you have sealed a pledge with a stranger by a handshake,

2 You have been trapped by what you said, you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth.

3 So do this right away, my son, and free yourself, because you have put yourself into your neighbor’s hands; go, humble yourself, and beg your friend for release.

4 Do not let your eyes sleep, or your eyelids slumber.

5 Escape like a deer from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6 ¶ Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

7 Having no leader, overseer, or ruler,

8 She prepares her provisions in the summer, and gathers her food during harvest.

9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? when will you get up from your sleep?

10 Just a little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the arms to rest:

11 So your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man.

12 ¶ A worthless person, a wicked man, who goes around speaking dishonestly.

13 Who winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, and gestures with his fingers;

14 Whose heart is perverse, continually devising evil; and sowing discord.

15 Will have disaster come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be crushed without remedy.

16 The LORD hates these six things: yea, seven are an abomination to him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 A mind that makes wicked plans, and feet that eagerly run to do evil,

19 A lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble between brothers.

20 ¶ My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not reject your mother’s instruction:

21 Bind them continually upon your heart, and tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk around they will lead you; when you sleep they will guard you; and when you awake, they will speak to you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp; instruction is light; and the rebuke of the law points the way to life:

24 To keep you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of a strange woman.

25 Do not lust for her beauty in your heart; or let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26 For through an immoral woman a man’s worth is reduced to a piece of bread: but the adulteress seeks to destroy his very soul.

27 Can a man carry fire in his bosom, without getting his clothes burned?

28 Can anyone stand on hot coals, without getting his feet burned?

29 So it is with the man who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her will not be innocent.

30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry;

31 But if he is caught, he has to pay back seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding: for he who does it destroys his own soul.

33 He will receive wounds and dishonor; and his disgrace will never be removed.

34 Because jealousy makes a man furious: therefore he will have no mercy when he takes vengeance.

35 He will not be appeased by money; nor will he be pacified, even though you give him many gifts.