Warnings Against Folly

My son,(A) if you have put up security(B) for your neighbor,(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge(D) for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,

Financial Entanglements

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,[c](A)
you have been trapped by the words of your lips[d]
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.(B)
Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,[e]
like a bird from a fowler’s trap.[f](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:1 Or friend
  2. Proverbs 6:1 Lit or shaken hands for or with
  3. Proverbs 6:1 The Hb word for stranger can refer to a foreigner, an Israelite outside one’s family, or simply to another person.
  4. Proverbs 6:2 Lit mouth
  5. Proverbs 6:5 Lit hand
  6. Proverbs 6:5 Lit hand

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

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

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Saying 25

10 If you falter in a time of trouble,
    how small is your strength!(A)

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10 If you do nothing in a difficult time,
your strength is limited.

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10 Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,
    and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster(A) strikes you—
    better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.

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10 Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend,(A)
and don’t go to your brother’s house
in your time of calamity;
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.(B)

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