6 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast struck thy hand with a stranger,

² thou art snared with the words of thy mouth; thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

³ Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself when thou hast come into the hand of thy friend: Go, humble thyself, so that thou shalt prevail with thy friend.

⁴ Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

⁵ Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

¹⁵ He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth suretyship is sure.

¹⁸ A man void of understanding shaketh hands in pledge, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.

¹⁶ Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

²⁶ Be not thou one of them that strike hands or of them that are sureties for debts;

²⁷ if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?