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

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.

17 (A)A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for adversity.

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17 A friend is always loyal,
    and a brother is born to help in time of need.

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10 If you (A)faint in the day of adversity,
    your strength is small.

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10 If you fail under pressure,
    your strength is too small.

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10 Do not forsake your friend and (A)your father's friend,
    and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity.
(B)Better is a neighbor who is near
    than a brother who is far away.

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10 Never abandon a friend—
    either yours or your father’s.
When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance.
    It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

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