6 1 Instruction for sureties. 6 The slothful and sluggish is stirred to work. 12 He describeth the nature of the wicked. 16 The things that God hateth. 20 To observe the word of God. 24 To flee adultery.

¹ My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor, and hast stricken hands with the stranger,

² Thou art ^[a]snared with the words of thy mouth: thou art even taken with the words of thine own mouth.

³ Do this now, my Son, and deliver thyself: seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor, go, and humble thyself, and solicit thy friends.

⁴ Give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

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

¹⁵ He shall be sore vexed, that is surety for a ^[a]stranger, and he that hateth suretiship, is sure.

¹⁸ A man destitute of understanding, ^[a]toucheth the hand, and becometh surety for his neighbor.

^16 (A)Take his ^[a]garment, that is surety for a stranger, and a pledge of him for the stranger.

⁷ The rich ruleth the poor, and the borrower is servant to the man that lendeth.

²⁶ Be not thou of them that ^[a]tough the hand, nor among them that are surety for debts.

²⁷ If thou hast nothing to pay, why causest thou that he should take thy bed from under thee?

^13 (A)Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and a pledge of him for the stranger.