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Proverbs 6
Good News Translation
Proverbs 6
Good News Translation
More Warnings
6 (A)My child, have you promised to be responsible for someone else's debts? 2 Have you been caught by your own words, trapped by your own promises? 3 Well then, my child, you are in that person's power, but this is how to get out of it: hurry to him, and beg him to release you. 4 Don't let yourself go to sleep or even stop to rest. 5 Get out of the trap like a bird or a deer escaping from a hunter.
6 Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. 7 They have no leader, chief, or ruler, 8 but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter. 9 How long is the lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up? 10 (B)“I'll just take a short nap,” he says; “I'll fold my hands and rest a while.” 11 But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber.
12 Worthless, wicked people go around telling lies. 13 (C)They wink and make gestures to deceive you, 14 all the while planning evil in their perverted minds, stirring up trouble everywhere. 15 Because of this, disaster will strike them without warning, and they will be fatally wounded.
16-19 There are seven things that the Lord hates and cannot tolerate:
- A proud look,
- a lying tongue,
- hands that kill innocent people,
- a mind that thinks up wicked plans,
- feet that hurry off to do evil,
- a witness who tells one lie after another,
- and someone who stirs up trouble among friends.
Warning against Adultery
20 Son, do what your father tells you and never forget what your mother taught you. 21 Keep their words with you always, locked in your heart. 22 Their teaching will lead you when you travel, protect you at night, and advise you during the day. 23 Their instructions are a shining light; their correction can teach you how to live. 24 It can keep you away from bad women, from the seductive words of other men's wives. 25 Don't be tempted by their beauty; don't be trapped by their flirting eyes. 26 A man can hire a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery will cost him all he has.
27 Can you carry fire against your chest without burning your clothes? 28 Can you walk on hot coals without burning your feet? 29 It is just as dangerous to sleep with another man's wife. Whoever does it will suffer. 30 People don't despise a thief if he steals food when he is hungry;[a] 31 yet if he is caught, he must pay back seven times more—he must give up everything he has. 32 But a man who commits adultery doesn't have any sense. He is just destroying himself. 33 He will be dishonored and beaten up; he will be permanently disgraced. 34 A husband is never angrier than when he is jealous; his revenge knows no limits. 35 He will not accept any payment; no amount of gifts will satisfy his anger.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:30 People don't despise … hungry; or Don't people despise … hungry?
Proverbs 6
New International Version
Proverbs 6
New International Version
Warnings Against Folly
6 My son,(A) if you have put up security(B) for your neighbor,(C)
if you have shaken hands in pledge(D) for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;(I)
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer(J)
and gathers its food at harvest.(K)
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?(L)
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest(M)—
11 and poverty(N) will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,(O)
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,(P)
14 who plots evil(Q) with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.(R)
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;(S)
he will suddenly(T) be destroyed—without remedy.(U)
16 There are six things the Lord hates,(V)
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,(W)
a lying tongue,(X)
hands that shed innocent blood,(Y)
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,(Z)
19 a false witness(AA) who pours out lies(AB)
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.(AC)
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son,(AD) keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.(AE)
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.(AF)
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,(AG)
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,(AH)
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.(AI)
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.(AJ)
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps(AK) with another man’s wife;(AL)
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,(AM)
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery(AN) has no sense;(AO)
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never(AP) be wiped away.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.