6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
6:2 you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.
6:3 So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go - to the point of exhaustion - * and give your neighbor no rest! / *Or Go and humble yourself,
6:4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
6:5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
6:7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
6:8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -
6:11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
6:12 A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
6:13 who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,
6:14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart - he always stirs up conflict.
6:15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy.
6:16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
6:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
6:18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
6:19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
6:20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
6:21 Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.
6:22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
6:23 For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,
6:24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
6:25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
6:26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
6:27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
6:28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
6:29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
6:30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
6:31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
6:32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
6:33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
6:34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
6:35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.