Proverbs 6

Avoid Disaster

1 My son,if you guarantee a loan for your neighboror pledge yourself for a stranger with a handshake,2 you are trapped by the words of your own mouth,caught by your own promise.3 Do the following things, my son, so that you may free yourself,because you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:Humble yourself,and pester your neighbor.4 Don’t let your eyes restor your eyelids close.5 Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunterand like a bird from the hand of a hunter.6 Consider the ant, you lazy bum.Watch its ways, and become wise.7 Although it has no overseer, officer, or ruler,8 in summertime it stores its food supply.At harvest time it gathers its food.9 How long will you lie there, you lazy bum?When will you get up from your sleep?10 “Just a little sleep,just a little slumber,just a little nap.”11 Then your poverty will come to you like a drifter,and your need will come to you like a bandit.12 A good-for-nothing scoundrel is a person who has a dishonest mouth.13 He winks his eye,makes a signal with his foot,and points with his fingers.14 He devises evil all the time with a twisted mind.He spreads conflict.15 That is why disaster will come on him suddenly.In a moment he will be crushed beyond recovery.16 There are six things that the Lord hates,even seven that are disgusting to him:17 arrogant eyes,a lying tongue,hands that kill innocent people,18 a mind devising wicked plans,feet that are quick to do wrong,19 a dishonest witness spitting out lies,and a person who spreads conflict among relatives.

More Advice About Avoiding Adultery

20 My son,obey the command of your father,and do not disregard the teachings of your mother.21 Fasten them on your heart forever.Hang them around your neck.22 When you walk around, they will lead you.When you lie down, they will watch over you.When you wake up, they will talk to you23 because the command is a lamp,the teachings are a light,and the warnings from discipline are the path of life24 to keep you from an evil womanand from the smooth talk of a loose woman.25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart.Do not let her catch you with her eyes.26 A prostitute’s price is only a loaf of bread,but a married woman hunts for your life itself.27 Can a man carry fire in his lapwithout burning his clothes?28 Can anyone walk on red-hot coalswithout burning his feet?29 So it is with a man who has sex with his neighbor’s wife.None who touch her will escape punishment.30 People do not despise a thief who is hungrywhen he steals to satisfy his appetite,31 but when he is caught,he has to repay it seven times.He must give up all the possessions in his house.32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman has no sense.Whoever does this destroys himself.33 An adulterous man will find diseaset and dishonor,and his disgrace will not be blotted out,34 because jealousy arouses a husband’s fury.The husband will show no mercy when he takes revenge.35 No amount of money will change his mind.The largest bribe will not satisfy him.

Proverbs 6

1 My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger;

2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, Seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor: Go, humble thyself, and importune thy neighbor;

4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, Nor slumber to thine eyelids;

5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise:

7 Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler,

8 Provideth her bread in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest.

9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a man of iniquity, Is he that walketh with a perverse mouth;

13 That winketh with his eyes, that speaketh with his feet, That maketh signs with his fingers;

14 In whose heart is perverseness, Who deviseth evil continually, Who soweth discord.

15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; On a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy.

16 There are six things which Jehovah hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him:

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood;

18 A heart that deviseth wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that uttereth lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep the commandment of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

21 Bind them continually upon thy heart; Tie them about thy neck.

22 When thou walkest, it shall lead thee; When thou sleepest, it shall watch over thee; And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

24 To keep thee from the evil woman, From the flattery of the foreigner’s tongue.

25 Lust not after her beauty in thy heart; Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

26 For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread; And the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk upon hot coals, And his feet not be scorched?

29 So he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife; Whosoever toucheth her shall not be unpunished.

30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal To satisfy himself when he is hungry:

31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; He shall give all the substance of his house.

32 He that committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: He doeth it who would destroy his own soul.

33 Wounds and dishonor shall he get; And his reproach shall not be wiped away.

34 For jealousy is the rage of a man; And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not regard any ransom; Neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.