²⁶ Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge^(A)
    or puts up security for debts;

6 My son,^(A) if you have put up security^(B) for your neighbor,^(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge^(D) for a stranger,
² you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
³ So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—^[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.^(E)
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle^(F) from the hand of the hunter,^(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.^(H)