Proverbs 6:1-19

New International Version

Warnings Against Folly

6 My son,^(A) if you have put up security^(B) for your neighbor,^(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge^(D) for a stranger,
²you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
³So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—^[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.^(E)
⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle^(F) from the hand of the hunter,^(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.^(H)

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard;^(I)
    consider its ways and be wise!
⁷It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer^(J)
    and gathers its food at harvest.^(K)

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard?^(L)
    When will you get up from your sleep?
¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest^(M)—
¹¹and poverty^(N) will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A troublemaker and a villain,
    who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
¹³    who winks maliciously with his eye,^(O)
    signals with his feet
    and motions with his fingers,^(P)
¹⁴    who plots evil^(Q) with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.^(R)
¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;^(S)
    he will suddenly^(T) be destroyed—without remedy.^(U)

¹⁶There are six things the Lord hates,^(V)
    seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷        haughty eyes,^(W)
        a lying tongue,^(X)
        hands that shed innocent blood,^(Y)
¹⁸        a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,^(Z)
¹⁹        a false witness^(AA) who pours out lies^(AB)
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.^(AC)