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

The Folly of Guaranteeing Loans

My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor,
if you have agreed to a deal[a] with a stranger,
trapped by your own words,
    and caught by your own words,
then do this, my son, and deliver yourself,
    because you have come under your neighbor’s control.[b]
Go, humble yourself!
    Plead passionately with your neighbor!
Don’t allow yourself to sleep
    or even to close your eyes.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a hunter’s hand,[c]
    or like a bird from a fowler’s hand.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:1 Lit. have clapped your hands; i.e. have shaken hands
  2. Proverbs 6:3 Lit. into the hands of your neighbor
  3. Proverbs 6:5 So MT; LXX Syr Targ read from the hunter; or a noose

15 If someone puts up security for a stranger,
he will suffer for it,(A)
but the one who hates such agreements is protected.

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15 Securing a loan for a stranger will bring suffering,
    but by refusing to do so, one remains safe.

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18 One without sense enters an agreement[a]
and puts up security for his friend.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:18 Lit sense shakes hands

18 A man who lacks sense[a] cosigns a loan,[b]
    becoming a guarantor for his neighbor.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:18 Lit. heart
  2. Proverbs 17:18 Lit. sense strikes the palm

16 Take his garment,[a]
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:16 A debtor’s outer garment was held as collateral.

16 Take the garment of anyone who puts up collateral for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge if he does it for an unfamiliar woman.

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The rich rule over the poor,(A)
and the borrower is a slave to the lender.(B)

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The wealthy rule over the poor,
    and anyone who borrows is a slave to the lender.

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26 Don’t be one of those who enter agreements,[a]
who put up security for loans.(A)
27 If you have no money to pay,
even your bed will be taken from under you.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:26 Lit who shakes hands

26 Don’t be one of those who make promises
    to guarantee loans for debts.
27 If you don’t have the ability to pay,
    why should your very bed be taken from under you?

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13 Take his garment,[a]
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.[b](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 27:13 A debtor’s outer garment held as collateral; Dt 24:12-13,17; Jb 22:6; Am 2:8
  2. Proverbs 27:13 Lit a foreign woman

13 Take the coat of anyone who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge if he cosigns for an immoral woman.

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