1My son, don’t promise to pay for what your neighbour owes. Don’t agree to pay a stranger’s bill.2Don’t be trapped by what you have said. Don’t be caught by the words of your mouth.3Instead, my son, do something to free yourself. Don’t fall into your neighbour’s hands. Go until you can’t go anymore. Don’t let your neighbour rest.4Don’t let your eyes go to sleep. Don’t let your eyelids close.5As a deer frees itself from a hunter, free yourself. As a bird frees itself from a trapper, free yourself.6You people who don’t want to work, think about the ant! Consider its ways and be wise!7It has no commander. It has no leader or ruler.8But it stores up its food in summer. It gathers its food at harvest time.9You lazy people, how long will you lie there? When will you get up from your sleep?10You might sleep a little or take a little nap. You might even fold your hands and rest.11Then you would be poor, as if someone had robbed you. You would have little, as if someone had stolen from you.12An evil troublemaker goes around saying twisted things with his mouth.13He winks with his eyes. He makes signals with his feet. He motions with his fingers.14His plans are evil, and he has lies in his heart. He is always stirring up fights.15Trouble will catch up with him in an instant. He will suddenly be destroyed, and nothing can save him.16There are six things the LORD hates. In fact, he hates seven things.17The LORD hates proud eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that kill those who aren’t guilty.18He also hates hearts that make evil plans and feet that are quick to do evil.19He hates any witness who pours out lies and anyone who stirs up conflict in the community.
A warning against committing adultery
20My son, keep your father’s command. Don’t turn away from your mother’s teaching.21Always tie them on your heart. Put them around your neck.22When you walk, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. When you wake up, they will speak to you.23Your father’s command is like a lamp. Your mother’s teaching is like a light. And whatever instructs and corrects you leads to life.24It keeps you from your neighbour’s wife. It keeps you from the smooth talk of a woman who commits adultery.25Don’t hunger in your heart after her beauty. Don’t let her eyes capture you.26A prostitute can be bought for only a loaf of bread. But another man’s wife hunts your very life.27You can’t shovel fire into your lap without burning your clothes.28You can’t walk on hot coals without burning your feet.29It’s the same for anyone who has sex with another man’s wife. Anyone who touches her will be punished.30People don’t hate a thief who steals to fill his empty stomach.31But when he is caught, he must pay seven times as much as he stole. It may even cost him everything he has.32A man who commits adultery has no sense. Anyone who does it destroys himself.33He will be beaten up and dishonoured. His shame will never be wiped away.34Jealousy stirs up a husband’s anger. He will show no mercy when he gets even.35He won’t accept any payment. He won’t take any money, no matter how much he is offered.
Proverbs 6
English Standard Version
Practical Warnings
1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, (Job 17:3)2if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, (Pr 5:22)3then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten,[1] and plead urgently with your neighbor. (Lu 11:8; Lu 18:5)4Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; (Ps 132:4; Pr 20:13)5save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[2] like a bird from the hand of the fowler. (Ps 91:3)6Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. (Job 12:7; Pr 10:26; Pr 23:19; Pr 27:11; Pr 30:25)7Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, (Ex 5:6; Ex 5:15; Pr 30:27)8she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. (Pr 10:5)9How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? (Pr 6:6; Jon 1:6)10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, (Pr 24:33; Ec 4:5)11and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Pr 24:34)12A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, (Pr 4:24; Pr 16:27)13winks with his eyes, signals[3] with his feet, points with his finger, (Ps 35:19; Pr 10:10)14with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; (Pr 2:12; Pr 3:29; Pr 16:28; Mic 2:1)15therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. (2Ch 36:16; Pr 29:1; Isa 30:13; Jer 19:11)16There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: (Job 5:19)17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (De 19:10; Ps 31:18; Ps 101:5; Ps 120:2; Pr 8:13; Pr 12:22; Pr 16:5; Pr 17:7; Pr 21:4; Isa 1:15; Isa 59:3; Isa 59:7)18a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, (Ge 6:5; Pr 1:16)19a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. (Ps 27:12; Pr 6:14; Pr 12:17; Pr 14:5; Pr 14:25; Pr 19:5; Pr 19:9)
Warnings Against Adultery
20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. (Pr 1:8)21Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. (Job 31:36; Pr 3:3)22When you walk, they[4] will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. (Pr 2:11; Pr 3:23)23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, (Ps 13:3; Ps 119:105; Pr 10:17)24to preserve you from the evil woman,[5] from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.[6] (Pr 2:16)25Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; (2Ki 9:30; Mt 5:28)26for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,[7] but a married woman[8] hunts down a precious life. (1Sa 2:36; Pr 28:21; Pr 29:3; Eze 13:18)27Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? (Job 31:12; Ps 79:12)28Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? (Isa 43:2)29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished. (Pr 16:5)30People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, (Job 38:39)31but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house. (Ex 22:4; Ps 79:12)32He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.33He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.34For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. (Le 20:10; Pr 27:4; So 8:6)35He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.