Proverbs 6:1-28

¹My sonne, if thou be surety for thy neighbour, and hast striken hands with the stranger,

²Thou art snared with the wordes of thy mouth: thou art euen taken with the woordes of thine owne mouth.

³Doe this nowe, my sonne, and deliuer thy selfe: seeing thou art come into the hande of thy neighbour, goe, and humble thy selfe, and sollicite thy friends.

⁴Giue no sleepe to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

⁵Deliuer thy selfe as a doe from the hande of the hunter, and as a birde from the hande of the fouler.

⁶Goe to the pismire, O sluggarde: beholde her waies, and be wise.

⁷For shee hauing no guide, gouernour, nor ruler,

⁸Prepareth her meat in the sommer, and gathereth her foode in haruest.

⁹Howe long wilt thou sleepe, O sluggarde? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleepe?

¹⁰Yet a litle sleepe, a litle slumber, a litle folding of the hands to sleepe.

¹¹Therefore thy pouertie commeth as one that trauaileth by the way, and thy necessitie like an armed man.

¹²The vnthriftie man and the wicked man walketh with a froward mouth.

¹³He maketh a signe with his eyes: he signifieth with his feete: he instructeth with his fingers.

¹⁴Lewde things are in his heart: he imagineth euill at all times, and raiseth vp contentions.

¹⁵Therefore shall his destruction come speedily: hee shall be destroyed suddenly without recouerie.

¹⁶These sixe things doeth the Lord hate: yea, his soule abhorreth seuen:

¹⁷The hautie eyes, a lying tongue, and the hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸An heart that imagineth wicked enterprises, feete that be swift in running to mischiefe,

¹⁹A false witnesse that speaketh lyes, and him that rayseth vp contentions among brethren.

²⁰My sonne, keepe thy fathers commandement, and forsake not thy mothers instruction.

²¹Binde them alway vpon thine heart, and tye them about thy necke.

²²It shall leade thee, when thou walkest: it shall watch for thee, when thou sleepest, and when thou wakest, it shall talke with thee.

²³For the commandement is a lanterne, and instruction a light: and corrections for instruction are the way of life,

²⁴To keepe thee from the wicked woman, and from ye flatterie of ye tongue of a strange woman.

²⁵Desire not her beautie in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eye lids.

²⁶For because of the whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of bread, and a woman wil hunt for the precious life of a man.

²⁷Can a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be burnt?

²⁸Or can a man go vpon coales, and his feete not be burnt?