Proverbs 6

English Standard Version

Practical Warnings

6 My son, if you have put up ^(A)security for your neighbor,
    have ^(B)given your pledge for a stranger,
²if you are ^(C)snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
³then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,^[a] and ^(D)plead urgently with your neighbor.
⁴^(E)Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,^[b]
    ^(F)like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶^(G)Go to ^(H)the ant, O ^(I)sluggard;
    consider her ways, and ^(J)be wise.
⁷^(K)Without having any chief,
    ^(L)officer, or ruler,
⁸she prepares her bread ^(M)in summer
    and ^(N)gathers her food in harvest.
⁹^(O)How long will you lie there, ^(P)O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰^(Q)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    ^(R)a little ^(S)folding of the hands to rest,
¹¹^(T)and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

¹²^(U)A worthless person, a wicked man,
    goes about with ^(V)crooked speech,
¹³^(W)winks with his eyes, signals^[c] with his feet,
    points with his finger,
¹⁴with ^(X)perverted heart ^(Y)devises evil,
    continually ^(Z)sowing discord;
¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
    ^(AA)in a moment he will be broken ^(AB)beyond healing.

¹⁶There are ^(AC)six things that the Lord hates,
    ^(AD)seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷^(AE)haughty eyes, ^(AF)a lying tongue,
    and ^(AG)hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸^(AH)a heart that devises wicked plans,
    ^(AI)feet that make haste to run to evil,
¹⁹^(AJ)a false witness who ^(AK)breathes out lies,
    and one who ^(AL)sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

²⁰^(AM)My son, keep your father's commandment,
    ^(AN)and forsake not your mother's teaching.
²¹^(AO)Bind them on your heart always;
    ^(AP)tie them around your neck.
²²^(AQ)When you walk, they^[d] will lead you;
    ^(AR)when you lie down, they will ^(AS)watch over you;
    and when you awake, they will talk with you.
²³For the commandment is ^(AT)a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the ^(AU)reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman,^[e]
    from the smooth tongue of ^(AV)the adulteress.^[f]
²⁵^(AW)Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her ^(AX)eyelashes;
²⁶for ^(AY)the price of a prostitute is only ^(AZ)a loaf of bread,^[g]
    but a married woman^[h] ^(BA)hunts down a precious life.
²⁷Can a man carry ^(BB)fire next to his ^(BC)chest
    and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸Or can one ^(BD)walk on hot coals
    and his feet not be scorched?
²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
    none who touches her ^(BE)will go unpunished.
³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to ^(BF)satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
³¹but ^(BG)if he is caught, he will pay ^(BH)sevenfold;
    he will give all the goods of his house.
³²He who commits adultery lacks sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.
³³He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
³⁴For ^(BI)jealousy makes a man furious,
    and he will not spare when ^(BJ)he takes revenge.
³⁵He will accept no compensation;
    he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Footnotes

Proverbs 6:3 Or humble yourself
Proverbs 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter
Proverbs 6:13 Hebrew scrapes
Proverbs 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
Proverbs 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
Proverbs 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
Proverbs 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
Proverbs 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife