Proverbs 6:1-13

¹My son, if you have made yourself responsible for your neighbour, or given your word for another,

²You are taken as in a net by the words of your mouth, the sayings of your lips have overcome you.

³Do this, my son, and make yourself free, because you have come into the power of your neighbour; go without waiting, and make a strong request to your neighbour.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, or rest to them;

⁵Make yourself free, like the roe from the hand of the archer, and the bird from him who puts a net for her.

⁶Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise:

⁷Having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.

⁹How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:

¹¹Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man

¹²A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;

¹³Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers;