Proverbs 6:1-13

¹My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbour, if thou hast struck thy hands for a stranger —

²Thou art snared by the words of thy mouth, thou art caught by the words of thy mouth —

³Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbour; go, humble thyself, and urge thy neighbour.

⁴Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

⁵Deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise;

⁷Which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸Provideth her bread in the summer, and gatherest her food in the harvest.

⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

¹⁰'Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep' —

¹¹So shall thy poverty come as a runner, and thy want as an armed man.

¹²A base person, a man of iniquity, is he that walketh with a froward mouth;

¹³That winketh with his eyes, that scrapeth with his feet, that pointeth with his fingers;