⁶ Go to the ant, you lazybones;
    consider its ways and be wise.^(D)
7 Without having any chief
    or officer or ruler,
⁸ it prepares its food in summer
    and gathers its sustenance in harvest.^(E)
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
    When will you rise from your sleep?^(F)
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want, like an armed warrior.^(G)

¹² A scoundrel and a villain
    goes around with crooked speech,^(H)
13 winking the eyes, shuffling the feet,
    pointing the fingers,^(I)
14 with perverted mind devising evil,
    continually sowing discord;^(J)
15 on such a one calamity will descend suddenly,
    in a moment, damage beyond repair.^(K)

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,^(L)
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that hurry to run to evil,^(M)
19 a lying witness who testifies falsely,
    and one who sows discord in a family.^(N)

²⁰ My child, keep your father’s commandment,
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.^(O)
21 Bind them upon your heart always;
    tie them around your neck.^(P)
22 When you walk, they^[e] will lead you;
    when you lie down, they^[f] will watch over you;
    and when you awake, they^[g] will talk with you.^(Q)
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,^(R)
24 to preserve you from the wife of another,^[h]
    from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.^[i](S)
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes,^(T)
26 for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^[j]
    but the wife of another stalks a man’s precious life.^(U)
27 Can fire be carried in the bosom
    without burning one’s clothes?
²⁸ Or can one walk on hot coals
    without scorching the feet?
²⁹ So is he who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife;
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.^(V)
30 Thieves are not despised who steal only
    to satisfy their appetite when they are hungry.
³¹ Yet if they are caught, they will pay sevenfold;
    they will forfeit all the goods of their house.^(W)
32 But he who commits adultery has no sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.^(X)
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
³⁴ For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
    and he will show no restraint when he takes revenge.^(Y)
35 He will accept no compensation
    and will refuse a bribe no matter how great.

⁶ For at the window of my house
    I looked out through my lattice,
⁷ and I saw among the simple ones,
    I observed among the youths,
    a young man without sense,^(AD)
8 passing along the street near her corner,
    taking the road to her house^(AE)
9 in the twilight, in the evening,
    at the time of night and darkness.^(AF)

¹⁰ Then a woman comes toward him
    decked out like a prostitute, with hidden intent.
¹¹ She is loud and wayward;
    her feet do not stay at home;^(AG)
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
    and at every corner she lies in wait.^(AH)
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with impudent face she says to him:
¹⁴ “I had to offer sacrifices,
    and today I have paid my vows;^(AI)
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
¹⁶ I have decked my couch with coverings,
    colored spreads of Egyptian linen;^(AJ)
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹ For my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey.
²⁰ He took a bag of money with him;
    he will not come home until full moon.”

²¹ With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with her smooth talk she compels him.^(AK)
22 Right away he follows her
    and goes like an ox to the slaughter
or bounds like a stag toward the trap^[n]
23     until an arrow pierces its entrails.
He is like a bird rushing into a snare,
    not knowing that it will cost him his life.^(AL)

²⁴ And now, my children, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.^(AM)
25 Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her paths.^(AN)
26 For many are those she has laid low,
    and numerous are her victims.^(AO)
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
    going down to the chambers of death.^(AP)