1 My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,

Or have given a handshake for a stranger,

2 If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth,

Or caught by the words of your mouth,

3 Then do this, my son, and save yourself:

Since you have come into the *6:3 Lit palmhand of your neighbor,

Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.

4 Give no sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids;

5 Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,

And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, you *6:6 Lit idle onelazy one,

Observe its ways and be wise,

7 Which, having no chief,

Officer, or ruler,

8 Prepares its food in the summer

And gathers its provision in the harvest.

9 How long will you lie down, you *6:9 Lit idle onelazy one?

When will you arise from your sleep?

10 "A little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to *6:10 Lit lie downrest,"

11 Then your poverty will come in like a *6:11 Lit one who moves aboutdrifter,

And your need like *6:11 Lit a man with a shieldan armed man.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,

Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,

13 Who winks with his eyes, who *6:13 Lit scrapessignals with his feet,

Who *6:13 Lit instructs withpoints with his fingers;

14 Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil,

Who *6:14 Lit sends outspreads strife.

15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;

Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

Seven that are an abomination *6:16 Lit of His soulto Him:

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

18 A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that run rapidly to evil,

19 A false witness who declares lies,

And one who *6:19 Lit sends outspreads strife among brothers.

20 My son, comply with the commandment of your father,

And do not ignore the *6:20 Or lawteaching of your mother;

21 Bind them continually on your heart;

Tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk, *6:22 Lit shethey will guide you;

When you sleep, *6:22 Lit shethey will watch over you;

And when you awake, *6:22 Lit shethey will talk to you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp and the *6:23 Or lawteaching is light;

And rebukes for discipline are the way of life

24 To keep you from the evil woman,

From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.

25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

26 For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread,

And *6:26 Lit a man’s wifean adulteress hunts for a precious life.

27 Can anyone take fire in his lap

And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can a person walk on hot coals

And his feet not be scorched?

29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

Whoever touches her will not *6:29 Lit be innocentgo unpunished.

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals

To satisfy *6:30 Lit his soulhimself when he is hungry;

31 But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much;

He must give up all the property of his house.

32 One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking *6:32 Lit heartsense;

He who would destroy *6:32 Lit his soulhimself commits it.

33 He will find wounds and disgrace,

And his shame will not be removed.

34 For jealousy *6:34 Lit is the rage ofenrages a man,

And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.

35 He will not *6:35 Lit lift up the face of anyaccept any settlement,

Nor will he be *6:35 Lit willingsatisfied though you make it a large gift.