Proverbs 6
Good News Translation
More Warnings
6 (A)My child, have you promised to be responsible for someone else's debts? 2 Have you been caught by your own words, trapped by your own promises? 3 Well then, my child, you are in that person's power, but this is how to get out of it: hurry to him, and beg him to release you. 4 Don't let yourself go to sleep or even stop to rest. 5 Get out of the trap like a bird or a deer escaping from a hunter.
6 Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. 7 They have no leader, chief, or ruler, 8 but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter. 9 How long is the lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up? 10 (B)“I'll just take a short nap,” he says; “I'll fold my hands and rest a while.” 11 But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber.
12 Worthless, wicked people go around telling lies. 13 (C)They wink and make gestures to deceive you, 14 all the while planning evil in their perverted minds, stirring up trouble everywhere. 15 Because of this, disaster will strike them without warning, and they will be fatally wounded.
16-19 There are seven things that the Lord hates and cannot tolerate:
- A proud look,
- a lying tongue,
- hands that kill innocent people,
- a mind that thinks up wicked plans,
- feet that hurry off to do evil,
- a witness who tells one lie after another,
- and someone who stirs up trouble among friends.
Warning against Adultery
20 Son, do what your father tells you and never forget what your mother taught you. 21 Keep their words with you always, locked in your heart. 22 Their teaching will lead you when you travel, protect you at night, and advise you during the day. 23 Their instructions are a shining light; their correction can teach you how to live. 24 It can keep you away from bad women, from the seductive words of other men's wives. 25 Don't be tempted by their beauty; don't be trapped by their flirting eyes. 26 A man can hire a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery will cost him all he has.
27 Can you carry fire against your chest without burning your clothes? 28 Can you walk on hot coals without burning your feet? 29 It is just as dangerous to sleep with another man's wife. Whoever does it will suffer. 30 People don't despise a thief if he steals food when he is hungry;[a] 31 yet if he is caught, he must pay back seven times more—he must give up everything he has. 32 But a man who commits adultery doesn't have any sense. He is just destroying himself. 33 He will be dishonored and beaten up; he will be permanently disgraced. 34 A husband is never angrier than when he is jealous; his revenge knows no limits. 35 He will not accept any payment; no amount of gifts will satisfy his anger.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:30 People don't despise … hungry; or Don't people despise … hungry?
Proverbs 6
Revised Geneva Translation
6 My son, if you are a guarantor for your neighbor, and have shaken hands with the stranger,
2 you are snared with the words of your mouth. You are taken with the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my Son, and deliver yourself. Seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go and humble yourself and solicit your friends.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself as a doe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard! Consider her ways, and be wise.
7 For she, having no guide, governor, or ruler,
8 prepares her food in the summer and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of the sleep?
10 A little sleep. A little slumber. A little folding of the hands to sleep.
11 Therefore, your poverty comes as one who travels by the way; and your need like an armed man.
12 The unthrifty and the wicked walk with a crooked mouth.
13 He makes a sign with his eyes. He signifies with his feet. He instructs with his fingers.
14 Lewd things are in his heart. He imagines evil at all times and raises up contentions.
15 Therefore, his destruction shall come speedily. He shall be destroyed suddenly, without recovery.
16 These six things the LORD hates — indeed, his soul abhors seven —
17 the haughty eyes, a lying tongue, the hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that imagines wicked enterprises, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
19 a false witness that speaks lies, and he who raises up contentions among brothers.
20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them always upon your heart. Tie them around your neck.
22 It shall lead you when you walk. It shall watch for you when you sleep. When you wake, it shall talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lantern; and instruction a light. And corrections for instruction are the way of life
24 to keep you from the wicked woman and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her take you with her eye lids.
26 For because of the whorish woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread. And a woman will hunt for the precious life of a man.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt?
28 Or can one go upon coals, and his feet not be burnt?
29 So he who goes into his neighbor’s wife, shall not be innocent, whoever touches her.
30 A thief is not despised when he steals to satisfy his soul because he is hungry.
31 But if he is found, he shall restore sevenfold. Or he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman is destitute of understanding. He who does so destroys his own soul.
33 He shall find a wound and dishonor. And his reproach shall never be put away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man. Therefore, he will not spare on the day of vengeance.
35 He cannot bear the sight of any ransom, nor will he consent, though you augment the gifts.
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