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Practical Warnings

My son, if you have become a (A)guarantor for your neighbor,
Have struck your [a]hands in pledge for a stranger,
If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the [b]hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and badger your neighbor.
Give no (B)sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand
And like a (C)bird from the hand of the fowler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:1 Lit palms
  2. Proverbs 6:3 Lit palm

Eighth Address to a Son:
Wisdom Avoids Entanglements

My son, if you have guaranteed your neighbor’s debts,
if you have shaken hands for a stranger,
you are trapped by the promises from your mouth;
you are captured by the promises from your mouth.
Because you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands,
go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
Do not allow your eyes to sleep,
or your eyelids to slumber.
Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter,
or like a bird from the hand of a trapper.

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

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17 A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for a time of trouble.

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10 If you (A)are slack in the day of trouble,
Your strength is in trouble.

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10 If you fail to act in the day of trouble,
your strength is too little.

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10 Do not forsake your (A)friend or (B)your father’s friend,
And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster;
Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

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10 Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend,
and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you.
A neighbor who is near is better than a brother who is far away.

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