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Lessons for Daily Life

My child,[a] if you have put up security for a friend’s debt
    or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
if you have trapped yourself by your agreement
    and are caught by what you said—
follow my advice and save yourself,
    for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy.
Now swallow your pride;
    go and beg to have your name erased.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:1 Hebrew My son.

Financial Entanglements

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,(A)
you have been snared by the words of your mouth—
trapped by the words from your mouth.
Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:1 Or friend
  2. 6:1 Lit or slapped hands for

18 It’s poor judgment to guarantee another person’s debt
    or put up security for a friend.

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18 One without sense enters an agreement[a]
and puts up security for his friend.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 17:18 Lit sense slaps hands

16 Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt.
    Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 20:16 An alternate reading in the Masoretic Text is for a promiscuous woman.

16 Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.(A)

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Just as the rich rule the poor,
    so the borrower is servant to the lender.

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The rich rule over the poor,(A)
and the borrower is a slave to the lender.(B)

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13 Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt.
    Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 27:13 As in Greek and Latin versions (see also 20:16); Hebrew reads for a promiscuous woman.

13 Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 27:13 Lit a foreign woman

26 Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt
    or put up security for someone else.
27 If you can’t pay it,
    even your bed will be snatched from under you.

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26 Don’t be one of those who enter agreements,[a]
who put up security for loans.(A)
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
even your bed will be taken from under you.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 22:26 Lit Don’t be among hand slappers