Proverbs 6
Practical Warnings
[1] My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,
[2] if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
[3] then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
[4] Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
[5] save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
[6] Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
[7] Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
[8] she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
[9] How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
[10] A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
[11] and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
[12] A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
[13] winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,
[14] with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
[15] therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
[16] There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
[17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
[18] a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
[19] a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Warnings Against Adultery
[20] My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
[21] Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
[22] When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
[23] For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
[24] to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
[25] Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
[26] for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,
but a married woman hunts down a precious life.
[27] Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
[28] Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
[29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
[30] People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
[31] but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
[32] He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
[33] He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
[34] For jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
[35] He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts. (ESV)
