Proverbs 6:1-18

New King James Version

6 My son, ^(A)if you become ^[a]surety for your friend,
If you have ^[b]shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
² You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
³ So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
^4 (B)Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
⁵ Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the ^[c]fowler.

^6 (C)Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
⁷ Which, having no ^[d]captain,
Overseer or ruler,
⁸ Provides her ^[e]supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
^9 (D)How long will you ^[f]slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
^11 (E)So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
^13 (F)He winks with his eyes,
He ^[g]shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
¹⁴ Perversity is in his heart,
^(G)He devises evil continually,
^(H)He sows discord.
¹⁵ Therefore his calamity shall come ^(I)suddenly;
Suddenly he shall ^(J)be broken ^(K)without remedy.