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Parental Counsel

My son, if you have become surety (guaranteed a debt or obligation) for your neighbor,
If you have given your pledge for [the debt of] a stranger or another [outside your family],

If you have been snared with the words of your lips,
If you have been trapped by the speech of your mouth,

Do this now, my son, and release yourself [from the obligation];
[a]Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor [to pay his debt and release you].

Give no [unnecessary] sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;

Tear yourself away like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Under the ancient laws governing debt, a man obligated for another’s debt could lose his money, land, bed, and clothing; and if these were not sufficient, he and his wife and children could be sold as slaves, not to be released until the next Year of Jubilee—fifty years after the previous one.

15 
He who puts up security and guarantees a debt for an outsider will surely suffer [for his foolishness],
But he who hates (declines) being a guarantor is secure [from its penalties].

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18 
A man lacking common sense gives a pledge
And becomes guarantor [for the debt of another] in the presence of his neighbor.

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16 
[The judge tells the creditor], “Take the clothes of one who is surety for a stranger;
And hold him in pledge [when he guarantees a loan] for foreigners.”(A)

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26 
Do not be among those who give pledges [involving themselves in others’ finances],
Or among those who become guarantors for others’ debts.
27 
If you have nothing with which to pay [another’s debt when he defaults],
Why should his creditor take your bed from under you?

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