Proverbs, 6

1. My child, if you have gone surety for your neighbour, if you have guaranteed the bond of a stranger,

2. if you have committed yourself with your lips, if through words of yours you have been entrapped,

3. do this, my child, to extricate yourself -- since you have put yourself in the power of your neighbour: go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbour,

4. give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no rest,

5. break free like a gazelle from the trap, like a bird from the fowler's clutches.

6. Idler, go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise:

7. no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master,

8. yet all through the summer she gets her food ready, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.

9. How long do you intend to lie there, idler? When are you going to rise from your sleep?

10. A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back,

11. and poverty comes like a vagrant and, like a beggar, dearth.

12. A scoundrel, a vicious man, he goes with a leer on his lips,

13. winking his eye, shuffling his foot, beckoning with his finger.

14. Trickery in his heart, always scheming evil, he sows dissension.

15. Disaster will overtake him sharply for this, suddenly, irretrievably, he will be broken.

16. There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that he abhors:

17. a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18. a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil,

19. a false witness who lies with every breath, and one who sows dissension among brothers.

20. Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.

21. Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.

22. While you are active, they will guide you, when you fall asleep, they will watch over you, when you wake up, they will converse with you.

23. For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,

24. preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs to another.

25. Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes;

26. a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.

27. Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight?

28. Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet?

29. Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbour's wife: no one who touches her will get off unpunished.

30. People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger;

31. yet even he, if caught, will have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.

32. But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction.

33. All he will get is blows and contempt, and dishonour never to be blotted out.

34. For jealousy inflames the husband who will show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;

35. he will not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he will not be placated.