¹⁵ To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble,
    but there is safety in refusing to do so.

¹⁸ It is senseless to give a pledge,
    to become surety for a neighbor.^(A)

6 My child, if you have given your pledge to your neighbor,
    if you have bound yourself to another,^[a](A)
2 you are snared by the utterance of your lips,^[b]
    caught by the words of your mouth.
³ So do this, my child, and save yourself,
    for you have come into your neighbor’s power:
    go, hurry,^[c] and plead with your neighbor.
⁴ Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;^(B)
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter,^[d]
    like a bird from the hand of the fowler.^(C)

²⁶ Do not be one of those who give pledges,
    who become surety for debts.^(A)
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
    why should your bed be taken from under you?

¹⁶ Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger;
    seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.