6:1  My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have struck hands in pledge for another,

6:2  if you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,

6:3  then do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:
Go and humble yourself;
press your plea with your neighbor!

6:4  Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.

6:5  Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6:6  Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

6:7  It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

6:8  yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

6:9  How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

6:10  A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

6:11  and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

6:12  A scoundrel and villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

6:13  who winks with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,

6:14  who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up dissension.

6:15  Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

6:16  There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

6:17  haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

6:18  a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

6:19  a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

6:20  My son, keep your father's commands
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

6:21  Bind them upon your heart forever;
fasten them around your neck.

6:22  When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.

6:23  For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life,

6:24  keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

6:25  Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,

6:26  for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

6:27  Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?

6:28  Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?

6:29  So is he who sleeps with another man's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.

6:30  Men do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

6:31  Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

6:32  But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself.

6:33  Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away;

6:34  for jealousy arouses a husband's fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

6:35  He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.