1 M y son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

2 Y ou are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

3 D o this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

4 G ive no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

5 F ree yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6 G o to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

7 w hich having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

8 p rovides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

9 H ow long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 s o your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

13 w ho winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;

14 i n whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

15 T herefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

16 T here are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

17 h aughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

20 M y son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

21 B ind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

22 W hen you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

23 F or the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

24 t o keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

25 D on’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26 F or a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

27 C an a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

28 O r can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

29 S o is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

30 M en don’t despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

31 b ut if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

32 H e who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

33 H e will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

34 F or jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.

35 H e won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.