1 ① My son, if you have stood bail for your neighbor or guaranteed the word of a stranger; 2if you have committed yourself with your own lips, know that you have trapped yourself with your own words. 3Then do this, my son: release yourself. If you have fallen into the hands of your neighbor, go speedily, kneel down and plead with him; 4do not give sleep to your eyes or rest to your eyelids. 5Break free, like a gazelle from the trap or a bird from the hand.
The idlers and the fools
6You idler, go to the ant, watch her ways and be wise. 7She has no master, no steward or overseer. 8She secures food in summer and stores up provisions during harvest time.
9How long, you idler, are you going to lie around? When do you intend to rise from sleep? 10A little sleep, a little drow siness and your laziness creeps upon you and then, like a tramp, 11poverty comes, bringing misery like a vagabond.
12The villain, the unjust man, goes about with a sneer on his lips, 13winking his eye, shuffling his feet and beckoning with his finger. 14His heart is deceitful; he is forever plotting evil and causing arguments. 15Therefore, disaster will suddenly and irrevocably overtake him.
16There are six things Yahweh hates; seven his inner being detests: 17the proud look, the lying tongue, hands which spill innocent blood, 18the depraved heart, feet which speed towards evil, 19a false and lying witness and the one who sows discord among people.
20My son, respect your father’s in struction and do not reject your mother’s teaching. 21Hold them forever in your heart and hang them around your neck. 22These will guard your footsteps, protect you when you sleep and speak to you on waking.
23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light; correction teaches you the way of life.
24It will protect you from the evil woman, the smooth talking of the stranger. 25Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with her looks. 26For the prostitute deserves a piece of bread but the adulteress hunts after your worthy life.
27Can you hold fire in your pocket without setting fire to your clothes or 28walk on hot coals without burning your feet? 29So it is for the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife: all who touch her will be punished.
30One does not condemn the hungry thief who steals to fill his stomach; 31nevertheless, if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold and give all the goods in his house. 32How senseless is the adulterer! Whoever commits adultery destroys him self. 33He will reap blows and contempt and his disgrace will not be erased.
34Jealousy inflames the husband’s heart and when he can take revenge he will have no mercy. 35He will accept nothing, neither reparation nor lavish gifts.
- Pro 6,1 Here we have all kinds of advice. 6:1-5. A person who is responsible, however generous and obliging he may be, always thinks before committing himself. 6:9-11. Being lazy about getting up: see also 26:14. Following this passage, there is a long discourse on the consequences of adultery which is accompanied by a life of lies and slavery.
