The Proverbs

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 6 -

Warning against suretyship

My son, if you provide a guarantee for a neighbor who takes out a loan, or if you give the promise that you will pay for a loan of a person you do not know,

you laid a trap for yourself by making the promise, and you have been caught by agreeing to a contract for someone you did not know.

Do this, my son, and deliver yourself from this difficulty: humbly go to your neighbor and beg him to cancel the agreement that you made.

Do not sleep, and do not rest until you go and talk with him.

Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from the hunter; or like a bird that flies away from the hand of one who hunts for birds.

Warning against laziness

You lazy person, learn something from watching the ants. Become wise and watch what they do.

The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler telling him what to do,

but during the summer it works hard, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.

But you lazy person, how long will you continue to sleep? When will you rise and go to work?

You sleep for a little time, and then you say, “A little more sleep, a little more resting in bed, a little more folding of the hands to take a nap.”

Suddenly poverty will take over your life like a thief who steals everything from you.

Warning against falsehood

A worthless person , a person who does bad to others, he lives by the lies he speaks to others.

They tell tales by winking their eyes and they give signals by moving their feet, and they make plans by pointing with their fingers.

The one who does bad things lays out plans within himself; he stirs up constant conflict wherever he goes.

His own disaster will overtake him in a second; he will be crushed to the point that he cannot be healed.

Prevention of seven sins

There are six, even seven, things that Yahweh hates.

Yahweh hates the eyes of the proud, the tongue that tells lies, the hands that shed the blood of the innocent,

a heart that plots and makes plans to do evil things to others,

the witness who breathes out lies when he gives testimony, and the one who causes strife between members of the same family.

Prevention against adultery

My son, obey the command of your father, and do not walk away from what your mother taught you.

Keep these lessons and tie them close inside as a part of yourself; tie them around your neck, to remind you how important they are to you.

When you walk, those lessons will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you and protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will teach you.

These commands are like a lamp for you, and what we teach you is like a light to guide you. When people correct you, this is to continually teach you the right way to live.

These lessons keep you from the immoral woman, they tell you about her enticing words and warn you to be on guard.

Do not throw your desires after such a woman, nor should you desire her beauty; do not let her capture you by the way she looks at you.

Sleeping with a prostitute may cost you only the price of a loaf of bread, but if you sleep with another man’s wife, it may cost you your life.

Can you carry hot coals in your pockets and not be burned?

Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch your feet?

So is anyone who sleeps with another man’s wife, he will suffer for doing that. It is certain he will be severely punished.

We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.

But if he steals something and then is caught by others, he will have to pay back seven times as much as he stole, even if he must sell everything that is in his house to get enough money to repay what he stole.

But a man who commits adultery has no good judgment because he is destroying his own self.

Wounds and shame will come to him; he will never forget how others disgraced him for his deed.

Because that woman’s husband will be jealous, he will become furious, and when he gets revenge, he will not act mercifully toward that man.

And he will not accept any bribe to stop him.

Warning against suretyship

My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

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

Warning against laziness

Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—

so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

Warning against falsehood

A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth,

who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers,

in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

Prevention of seven sins

There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

Prevention against adultery

My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,

but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.

He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.