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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

17 A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is there[a] for times of trouble.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:17 Lit. born

10 If you grow weary when times are troubled,
    your strength is limited.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 24:10 Or undersized

10 Never abandon your friend nor your father’s friend,
    and don’t go to your brother’s house in times of trouble.
A neighbor who is near is better
    than a brother who lives far away.

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