Verses
1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbour,
if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,
2you are trapped by the words of your mouth;
you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.
3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,
since you have come into the hand of your neighbour.
Go, humble yourself.
Press your plea with your neighbour.
4Give no sleep to your eyes,
nor slumber to your eyelids.
5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
 
6Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise;
7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest.
9How long will you sleep, sluggard?
When will you arise out of your sleep?
10A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11so your poverty will come as a robber,
and your scarcity as an armed man.
 
12A worthless person, a man of iniquity,
is he who walks with a perverse mouth,
13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
who motions with his fingers,
14in whose heart is perverseness,
who devises evil continually,
who always sows discord.
15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.
He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.
 
16There are six things which the LORD hates;
yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
17arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are swift in running to mischief,
19a false witness who utters lies,
and he who sows discord amongst brothers.
 
20My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
21Bind them continually on your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
22When you walk, it will lead you.
When you sleep, it will watch over you.
When you awake, it will talk with you.
23For the commandment is a lamp,
and the law is light.
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
24to keep you from the immoral woman,
from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart,
neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.
The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
27Can a man scoop fire into his lap,
and his clothes not be burnt?
28Or can one walk on hot coals,
and his feet not be scorched?
29So is he who goes in to his neighbour’s wife.
Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
30Men don’t despise a thief
if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry;
31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times.
He shall give all the wealth of his house.
32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.
He who does it destroys his own soul.
33He will get wounds and dishonour.
His reproach will not be wiped away.
34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.
He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.
35He won’t regard any ransom,
neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.