Proverbs 6

Warnings against Foolishness

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,

if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips,

ensnared by the words of your mouth,

³then do this, my son, to free yourself,

for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:

Go, humble yourself,

and press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes

or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker;

observe its ways and become wise.

• PROV 6:6[NOTE]THE ANT. The Greek Old Testament adds three lines after 6:8 that tell the lazy man to go to the bee too. They are not in the Hebrew.

⁷Without a commander,

without an overseer or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer;

it gathers its food at harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker?

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and need like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man,

walks with a perverse mouth,

¹³winking his eyes, speaking with his feet,

and pointing with his fingers.

¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil;

he continually sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.

¹⁶There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that are detestable to Him:

• PROV 6:16[NOTE]SIX THINGS, NO, SEVEN. A Hebrew way of counting that builds up to the last one. The seventh, stirring up trouble among brothers, is the punch line. Chapter 30 does the same with three, no, four.

¹⁷haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that run swiftly to evil,

¹⁹a false witness who gives false testimony,

and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

Warnings against Adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s commandment,

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

²¹Bind them always upon your heart;

tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

²⁴to keep you from the evil woman,

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²⁵Do not lust in your heart for her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For the levy of the prostitute is poverty,

and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire

and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals

without scorching his feet?

²⁹So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰Men do not despise the thief

if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold;

he must give up all the wealth of his house.

³²He who commits adultery lacks judgment;

whoever does so destroys himself.

• PROV 6:32[NOTE]LACKS JUDGMENT. The Hebrew says lacks heart. Proverbs uses this saying about ten times for a person with no sense, 7:7, 9:4, 10:13 and more. Heart here means the mind that should be making good choices.

³³Wounds and dishonor will befall him,

and his reproach will never be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband,

and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom,

or persuaded by lavish gifts.