Proverbs 6:1-27

¹My son, If thou hast become surety for thy friend, if thou hast struck thy hand for a stranger;

²If thou art ensnared through the words of thy mouth, if thou art caught through the words of thy mouth:

³Then do this by all means, my son, and deliver thyself, because thou art come into the power of thy friend, Go hasten to him, and urge thy friend.

⁴Grant not any sleep to thy eyes, nor slumber to thy eyelids.

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

⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard; look on her ways, and become wise.

⁷She, that hath no prince, officer, or ruler,

⁸Provideth in the summer her provision, gathereth in harvest-time her food.

⁹How long, O sluggard, wilt thou lie down? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

¹⁰“A little more sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands in lying down;”

¹¹But then will thy poverty come like a rover, and thy want as a man armed with a shield.

¹²A Godless person is a man of injustice, who walketh with a distorted mouth.

¹³He blinketh with his eyes, he scrapeth with his feet, he pointeth with his fingers;

¹⁴Perverseness is in his heart, he contriveth evil at all times; he scattereth abroad discord.

¹⁵Therefore shall suddenly come his calamity: unawares shalt he be broken without a remedy.

¹⁶Six things there are which the Lord hateth; and seven are an abomination unto his spirit:

¹⁷Haughty eyes, a tongue of falsehood, and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸A heart that contriveth plans of injustice, feet that hasten to run after evil,

¹⁹A false witness that eagerly uttereth lies, and him that scattereth abroad discord among brethren.

²⁰Keep, O my son, the commandment of thy father, and reject not the teaching of thy mother:

²¹Bind them upon thy heart continually, tie them about thy throat.

²²When thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou liest down, it shall watch over thee; and when thou art awake, it shall converse with thee.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and the way of life are the admonitions of correction:

²⁴To guard thee against a bad woman, from the flattery of an alien tongue.

²⁵Covet not her beauty in thy heart, and let her not conquer thee with her eyelids.

²⁶For by means of a harlot one is brought down to the last loaf of bread: and an adulterous woman will even hunt for the precious life,

²⁷Can a man gather up fire in his lap, and shall his clothes not be burnt?