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.