Old/New Testament
6 My son, if you have become security for your neighbor, if you have given your pledge for a stranger or another,
2 You are snared with the words of your lips, you are caught by the speech of your mouth.
3 Do this now [at once and earnestly], my son, and deliver yourself when you have put yourself into the [a]power of your neighbor; go, bestir and humble yourself, and beg your neighbor [to pay his debt and thereby release you].
4 Give not [unnecessary] sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids;
5 Deliver yourself, as a roe or gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!—(A)
7 Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.
9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?(B)
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down and sleep—
11 So will your poverty come like a robber or one who travels [with slowly but surely approaching steps] and your want like an armed man [making you helpless].(C)
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, is he who goes about with a perverse (contrary, wayward) mouth.
13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks by shuffling or tapping with his feet, he makes signs [to mislead and deceive] and teaches with his fingers.
14 Willful and contrary in his heart, he devises trouble, vexation, and evil continually; he lets loose discord and sows it.
15 Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy.
16 These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,(D)
18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.
20 My son, keep your father’s [God-given] commandment and forsake not the law of [God] your mother [taught you].(E)
21 Bind them continually upon your heart and tie them about your neck.(F)
22 When you go, they [the words of your parents’ God] shall lead you; when you sleep, they shall keep you; and when you waken, they shall talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the whole teaching [of the law] is light, and reproofs of discipline are the way of life,(G)
24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a loose woman.
25 Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids.
26 For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man].
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?
29 So he who cohabits with his neighbor’s wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished.
30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry;
31 But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary—to meet his fine].
32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life.
33 Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one].
35 He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts and bribes.
7 My son, keep my words; lay up within you my commandments [for use when needed] and treasure them.
2 Keep my commandments and live, and keep my law and teaching as the apple (the pupil) of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to skillful and godly Wisdom, You are my sister, and regard understanding or insight as your intimate friend—
5 That they may keep you from the loose woman, from the adventuress who flatters with and makes smooth her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice.
7 And among the simple (empty-headed and emptyhearted) ones, I perceived among the youths a young man void of good sense,
8 Sauntering through the street near the [loose woman’s] corner; and he went the way to her house
9 In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man’s life].
10 And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart.
11 She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house;
12 Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner.
13 So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him,
14 Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows.
15 So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love.
19 For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey;
20 He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon].
21 With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along.
22 Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or [b]like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle
23 Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life.
24 Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths.
26 For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host.(H)
27 Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.
2 But I definitely made up my mind not to grieve you with another painful and distressing visit.
2 For if I cause you pain [with merited rebuke], who is there to provide me enjoyment but the [very] one whom I have grieved and made sad?
3 And I wrote the same to you so that when I came, I might not be myself pained by those who are the [very] ones who ought to make me glad, for I trusted in you all and felt confident that my joy would be shared by all of you.
4 For I wrote you out of great sorrow and deep distress [with mental torture and anxiety] of heart, [yes, and] with many tears, not to cause you pain but in order to make you realize the overflowing love that I continue increasingly to have for you.
5 But if someone [the one among you who committed incest] has caused [all this] grief and pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely, [he has distressed] all of you.
6 For such a one this censure by the majority [which he has received is] sufficient [punishment].
7 So [instead of further rebuke, now] you should rather turn and [graciously] forgive and comfort and encourage [him], to keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow and despair.
8 I therefore beg you to reinstate him in your affections and assure him of your love for him;
9 For this was my purpose in writing you, to test your attitude and see if you would stand the test, whether you are obedient and altogether agreeable [to following my orders] in everything.
10 If you forgive anyone anything, I too forgive that one; and what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sakes in the presence [and with the approval] of Christ (the Messiah),
11 To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.
12 Now when I arrived at Troas [to preach] the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, a door of opportunity was opened for me in the Lord,
13 Yet my spirit could not rest (relax, get relief) because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave from them and departed for Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
15 For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
16 To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]
17 For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God’s Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight and presence of God.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation