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My son, if thou hast promised for thy friend, thou hast fastened thine hand at a stranger. (My son, if thou hast pledged yourself, or made a guarantee, for thy friend, then thou hast fastened thy hand to a stranger.)

Thou art bound by the words of thy mouth; and thou art taken with thine own words (and thou art caught by thy own words, or thy promises).

Therefore, my son, do thou that that I say, and deliver thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, raise thy friend; (And so my son, do thou what I say, and save thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, implore thy friend;)

give thou not sleep to thine eyes, neither (let) thine eyelids nap.

Be thou ravished, as a doe from the hand; and as a bird from [the] ambushings of the fowler. (Be thou released, like a doe from the hand of the hunter; and like a bird from the ambush of the fowler.)

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Warnings Against Folly

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,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
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!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,

15 He that maketh faith, that is, (an) obligation, for a stranger, shall be tormented with evil; but he that escheweth snares, shall be secure.

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15 Whoever puts up security(A) for a stranger will surely suffer,
    but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.(B)

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18 A fond man shall make joy with hands (A foolish person shall clap his hands, or shall rejoice), when he hath promised for his friend.

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18 One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge
    and puts up security for a neighbor.(A)

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16 Take thou away the cloth of him that was (a) borrow of another man; and for strangers take thou away a wed from him. (Take thou the cloak of him who pledged for another person; and take thou a pledge from him for strangers.)

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16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge(A) if it is done for an outsider.(B)

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26 Do not thou be with them that fasten, or bind, their hands, and that proffer themselves to be borrows for debts; (Do not thou be with those who bind their hands, and who offer themselves as pledges for other people’s debts;)

27 for if he hath not whereof he shall restore, what of cause is, that thou (should) take away (the) covering from (off) thy bed? (for if thou hath not whereof to pay, then they shall even take away thy bed from under thee.)

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Saying 4

26 Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge(A)
    or puts up security for debts;
27 if you lack the means to pay,
    your very bed will be snatched from under you.(B)

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