6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another,

6:2 if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth,

6:3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!

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 bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

6:12 A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

6:13 who winks 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 dissension.

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 man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

6:20 My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

6:21 Bind them upon your heart forever; 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 these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,

6:24 keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

6:25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes,

6:26 for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon 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 Men 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 lacks judgment; 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 the bribe, however great it is.