Proverbs 6  Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

6 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbour^[a]
or entered into an agreement with^[b] a stranger,^(A)
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth –
trapped by the words from your mouth.
³ Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbour’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbour.
⁴ Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.^(B)
5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,^[c]
like a bird from a hunter’s trap.^[d](C)

⁶ Go to the ant,^(D) you slacker!^(E)
Observe its ways and become wise.
⁷ Without leader, administrator, or ruler,
⁸ it prepares its provisions in summer;
it gathers its food during harvest.^(F)
9 How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
¹¹ and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.^(G)

¹² A worthless person,^(H) a wicked man
goes around speaking dishonestly,^(I)
13 winking^(J) his eyes, signalling with his feet,
and gesturing with his fingers.
¹⁴ He always plots evil^(K) with perversity in his heart;
he stirs up trouble.^(L)
15 Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly;
he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.^(M)

¹⁶ The Lord hates six things;
in fact, seven are detestable to him:
¹⁷ arrogant eyes,^(N) a lying tongue,^(O)
hands that shed innocent blood,^(P)
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,^(Q)
feet eager to run to evil,^(R)
19 a lying witness who gives false testimony,^(S)
and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.^(T)

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.^(U)
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them round your neck.^(V)
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.
²³ For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,^(W)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(X)
24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^[e]
from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.^(Y)
25 Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty^(Z)
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(AA)
26 For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^[f]
but the wife of another man^[g] goes after a precious life.^(AB)
27 Can a man embrace fire
and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸ Can a man walk on burning coals
without scorching his feet?
²⁹ So it is with the one who sleeps with
another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.^(AC)
30 People don’t despise the thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(AD)
31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(AE)
he must give up all the wealth in his house.
³² The one who commits adultery^[h] lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.^(AF)
33 He will get a beating^[i] and dishonour,
and his disgrace will never be removed.
³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,^(AG)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
³⁵ He will not be appeased by anything
or be persuaded by lavish bribes.