Proverbs 6:6-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways and be wise.(A)
7 Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
8 it prepares its food in summer
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.(B)
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?(C)
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.(D)
12 A scoundrel and a villain
goes around with crooked speech,(E)
13 winking the eyes, shuffling the feet,
pointing the fingers,(F)
14 with perverted mind devising evil,
continually sowing discord;(G)
15 on such a one calamity will descend suddenly,
in a moment, damage beyond repair.(H)
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,(I)
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that hurry to run to evil,(J)
19 a lying witness who testifies falsely,
and one who sows discord in a family.(K)
20 My child, keep your father’s commandment,
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.(L)
21 Bind them upon your heart always;
tie them around your neck.(M)
22 When you walk, they[a] will lead you;
when you lie down, they[b] will watch over you;
and when you awake, they[c] will talk with you.(N)
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,(O)
24 to preserve you from the wife of another,[d]
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.[e](P)
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes,(Q)
26 for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,[f]
but the wife of another stalks a man’s precious life.(R)
27 Can fire be carried in the bosom
without burning one’s clothes?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
without scorching the feet?
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.