Proverbs 6  Holman Christian Standard Bible

6 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor^[a]
or entered into an agreement with^[b] a stranger,^[c](A)
2 you have been trapped by the words of your lips^[d]—
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
³ Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
⁴ Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.^(B)
5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,^[e]
like a bird from a fowler’s trap.^[f](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,^(G)
11 and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.^(H)

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

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

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.^(V)
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.^(W)
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,^(X)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(Y)
24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^[g]
from the flattering^[h] tongue of a stranger.^(Z)
25 Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty^(AA)
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(AB)
26 For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^[i]
but an adulteress^[j] goes after a precious life.^(AC)
27 Can a man embrace fire^[k]
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.^(AD)
30 People don’t despise the thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(AE)
31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(AF)
he must give up all the wealth in his house.
³² The one who commits adultery^[l] lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.^(AG)
33 He will get a beating^[m] and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be removed.
³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,^(AH)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
³⁵ He will not be appeased by anything
or be persuaded by lavish gifts.