Proverbs 6:6-28

Common English Bible

⁶ Go to the ant, you lazy person;
    observe its ways and grow wise.
⁷ The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.
⁸     Even so, it gets its food in summer;
    gathers its provisions at harvest.
⁹ How long, lazy person, will you lie down?
    When will you rise from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the arms to lie down—
¹¹     and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
        destitution like a warrior.
¹² Worthless people and guilty people
    go around with crooked talk.
¹³ They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet,
    and point with their fingers.
¹⁴ Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil;
    they create controversies all the time.
¹⁵ Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them;
    they will be quickly broken beyond healing.
¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven things detestable to him:
¹⁷     snobbish eyes,
    a lying tongue,
    hands that spill innocent blood,
¹⁸     a heart set on wicked plans,
    feet that run quickly to evil,
¹⁹     a false witness who breathes lies,
    and one who causes conflicts among relatives.

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command;
    don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
²¹ Bind them on your heart for all time;
    fasten them around your neck.
²² When you walk around, they will lead you;
    when you lie down, they will protect you;
    when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
²³ The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;
    corrective teaching is the path of life.
²⁴ They guard you from the evil woman,
    from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
²⁵ Don’t desire her beauty in secret;
    don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
²⁶         for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread,^[a]
        but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.
²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    and his clothes not get burned?
²⁸ If a man walks on hot coals,
    don’t his feet get burned?