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Wise advice

My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor
    or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,
    you will be trapped by your words;
    you will be caught by your words.
Do this, my son, to get out of it,
    for you have come under the control of your neighbor.
    So go, humble yourself,[a] and pester your neighbor.
Don’t give sleep to your eyes
    or slumber to your eyelids.
Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter,
    like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Heb uncertain

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 Guaranteeing the debt of a stranger brings big trouble,
    but the one who refuses to shake hands will 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 One with no sense shakes hands on a deal,
    securing a loan for a 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 the garment of the person who secures a loan for a stranger;
    take his pledge for a foreigner.

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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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The wealthy rule over the poor;
    a borrower is a slave to a lender.

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The rich rule over the poor,
    and the borrower is slave to the lender.

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26 Don’t shake hands to guarantee a loan.
27 If you can’t repay,
    why should they be able to take your bed from you?

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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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13 Take the garment of the person who secures a loan for a stranger;
    take his pledge for a foreigner.

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

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