Practical Warnings
My son, if you have put up asecurity for your neighbor,
have agiven your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are asnared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, and aplead urgently with your neighbor.
4 aGive your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
alike a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 aGo to bthe ant, O csluggard;
consider her ways, and dbe wise.
7 aWithout having any chief,
bofficer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread ain summer
and bgathers her food in harvest.
9 aHow long will you lie there, bO sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 aA little sleep, a little slumber,
ba little afolding of the hands to rest,
11 aand poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
12 aA worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with bcrooked speech,
13 awinks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with aperverted heart bdevises evil,
continually csowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
ain a moment he will be broken bbeyond healing.
16 There are asix things that the Lord hates,
aseven that are an abomination to him:
17 ahaughty eyes, ba lying tongue,
and chands that shed innocent blood,
18 aa heart that devises wicked plans,
bfeet that make haste to run to evil,
19 aa false witness who bbreathes out lies,
and one who csows discord among brothers.
Warnings Against Adultery
20 aMy son, keep your father’s commandment,
aand forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21 aBind them on your heart always;
btie them around your neck.
22 aWhen you walk, they will lead you;
awhen you lie down, they will bwatch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is aa lamp and the teaching a light,
and the breproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of athe adulteress.
25 aDo not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her beyelashes;
26 for athe price of a prostitute is only ba loaf of bread,
but a married woman chunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry afire next to his bchest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one awalk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her awill go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to asatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but aif he is caught, he will pay bsevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For ajealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when bhe takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.