Proverbs 6:1-27

¹My son, suppose you have pledged to guarantee your neighbor's debt, or you have shaken hands in agreement with a stranger,

²then you've trapped yourself by what you promised, you've been caught by what you said.

³So this is what you have to do. You need to get out of it, because you've put yourself in that person's power. Go to your neighbor in all humility and ask him to release you from the commitment.

⁴Don't delay, saying that you'll sleep on it. Don't rest until you've done it.

⁵Get out of it like a gazelle escaping from a trap, like a bird from a bird-catcher's net.

⁶Go and observe the ants, you slacker! Learn from what they do and become wise.

⁷They don't have a leader, an officer, or a ruler,

⁸yet they work hard during the summer getting their food, gathering what they need during the harvest.

⁹So how long are you going to lie there, you slacker? When are you going to get up from your sleep?

¹⁰You may say, “Please, just a little more sleep, a little longer snooze, a little more folding of the arms to rest”—

¹¹and poverty will attack you like a robber, destitution like an armed warrior.

¹²Rebellious and wicked people go around telling lies,

¹³winking slyly, giving sneaky foot gestures, rudely pointing with their fingers.

¹⁴Their warped minds plot evil schemes; they're always causing trouble.

¹⁵As a result, disaster falls suddenly on such people; in just a moment they're destroyed without hope of healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates, seven things that he absolutely detests:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that murder the innocent,

¹⁸a mind that plots evil schemes, feet that hurriedly run to do wrong,

¹⁹a false witness that speaks lies, those who caused arguments in families.

²⁰My son, pay attention to your father's instruction, and don't reject your mother's teaching.

²¹Keep them always in mind. Tie them around your neck.

²²They will lead you as you walk along; they will watch over you as you sleep; when you wake up they will talk with you.

²³For the instruction is a lamp, and the teaching is a light. The correction that comes from discipline is the way to life.

²⁴It will protect you from an evil woman and the seductive words of a prostitute.

²⁵Don't let your mind lust after her beauty, or let her hypnotize you with her fluttering eyelashes.

²⁶You can buy a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery with another man's wife can cost you your life.

²⁷Can you put fire in your lap and not burn your clothes?