Proverbs 6

My son, if you become surety for your friend, you deliver your hand to an enemy;

For a man's own lips are a strong snare to him, and he is caught by the lips of his own mouth.

My son, do what I command you, and save yourself; for you have come into the hands of evil men because of your friend. Go, do not grow slack, and urge on the friend for whom you became surety.

Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids,

That you may be saved like a gazelle from a noose, and like a bird from a snare.

Go to the ant, O sluggard, and see its ways and emulate them, and become wiser than it.

For it has no farm, and has no one to compel it, and is under no master,

It prepares its food in summer, and in the harvest lays up a great store. Or go to the bee, and learn what a worker she is, and how solemn a work she performs; kings and commoners take her labors for their health, and she is desired by all and held in honor. Though she is weak in strength, she has been advanced because she honored wisdom.

How long, O sluggard, will you lie down? When will you rise from sleep?

A little you sleep, a little you sit, a little you doze, and a little you fold your hands across your breast;

Then poverty comes upon you like an evil traveler, and want like a good runner. But if you are diligent, your harvest will come like a spring, and want will desert you like a bad runner.

A foolish and lawless man walks in ways that are not good;

The same man winks with his eye, signals with his foot, and teaches by the motions of his fingers.

With a perverted heart he devises evils at all times; such a man stirs up disturbances in a city.

Therefore his destruction comes suddenly—a breaking and a crushing beyond healing;

For he rejoices in all the things the Lord hates, and he is crushed because of the uncleanness of his soul:

The eye of an insolent man, an unjust tongue, hands that shed the blood of a righteous man,

And a heart that devises evil schemes, and feet that hasten to do evil.

An unjust witness kindles lies and sends strife among brothers.

My son, keep your father's laws, and do not reject your mother's ordinances;

Bind them upon your soul continually, and fasten them as a collar about your neck.

When you walk, take her with you and let her be with you; when you lie down, let her guard you; that when you awake she may talk with you.

For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light, and reproof and instruction are a way of life,

To keep you from a married woman, and from the slander of a strange tongue.

Do not let desire for beauty overcome you, nor be ensnared by your own eyes, nor be carried away by her eyelids;

For the price of a harlot is no more than a single loaf, but a woman who belongs to a man hunts down precious lives.

Can a man bind fire in his bosom and not burn his clothes?

Or can a man walk upon coals of fire and not burn his feet?

So it is with him who goes in to a married woman: he will not go unpunished, nor will anyone who touches her.

It is no wonder if a thief is caught, for he steals to fill his soul when he is hungry;

But if he is caught, he will repay sevenfold, and by giving all his possessions he will deliver himself.

But the adulterer, through lack of sense, procures destruction for his own soul.

He endures pains and dishonors, and his reproach will not be wiped away forever;

For her husband's wrath is full of jealousy; he will not spare in the day of judgment;

He will not exchange his enmity for any ransom, nor be appeased by many gifts.