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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.
Don’t put it off; do it now!
    Don’t rest until you do.
Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter,
    like a bird fleeing from a net.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:1 Hebrew My son.

Practical Warnings

My son, if you have put up (A)security for your neighbor,
    have (B)given your pledge for a stranger,
if you are (C)snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,[a] and (D)plead urgently with your neighbor.
(E)Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[b]
    (F)like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or humble yourself
  2. Proverbs 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter

15 There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt;
    it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

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15 (A)Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm,
    but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

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

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18 One who lacks sense gives a pledge
    and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.

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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 (A)Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
    and (B)hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:16 Or for an adulteress (compare 27:13)

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

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(A)The rich rules over the poor,
    and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

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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 Be not one of those who (A)give pledges,
    who put up security for debts.
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
    why should (B)your bed be taken from under you?

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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 (A)Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
    and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 27:13 Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners