6:1 MY SON, if you have become security for your neighbor, if you have given your pledge for a stranger {or} another, |
6:2 You are snared with the words of your lips, you are caught by the speech of your mouth. |
6:3 Do this now [at once and earnestly], my son, and deliver yourself when you have put yourself into the power of your neighbor; go, bestir {and} humble yourself, and beg your neighbor [to pay his debt and thereby release you]. |
6:4 Give not [unnecessary] sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids; |
6:5 Deliver yourself, as a roe {or} gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. |
6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!-- |
6:7 Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, |
6:8 Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest. |
6:9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? |
6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down {and} sleep-- |
6:11 So will your poverty come like a robber {or} one who travels [with slowly but surely approaching steps] and your want like an armed man [making you helpless]. |
6:12 A worthless person, a wicked man, is he who goes about with a perverse (contrary, wayward) mouth. |
6:13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks by shuffling {or} tapping with his feet, he makes signs [to mislead and deceive] {and} teaches with his fingers. |
6:14 Willful {and} contrary in his heart, he devises trouble, vexation, {and} evil continually; he lets loose discord {and} sows it. |
6:15 Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy. |
6:16 These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: |
6:17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, |
6:18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts {and} plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, |
6:19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. |
6:20 My son, keep your father's [God-given] commandment and forsake not the law of [God] your mother [taught you]. |
6:21 Bind them continually upon your heart and tie them about your neck. |
6:22 When you go, they [the words of your parents' God] shall lead you; when you sleep, they shall keep you; and when you waken, they shall talk with you. |
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the whole teaching [of the law] is light, and reproofs of discipline are the way of life, |
6:24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a loose woman. |
6:25 Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids. |
6:26 For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks {and} snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]. |
6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? |
6:28 Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? |
6:29 So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent {or} go unpunished. |
6:30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; |
6:31 But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary--to meet his fine]. |
6:32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart {and} understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life. |
6:33 Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. |
6:34 For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one]. |
6:35 He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts {and} bribes. |