Old/New Testament

6 My son, if thou hast promised for thy friend, thou hast fastened thine hand at a stranger. (My son, if thou hast pledged yourself, or made a guarantee, for thy friend, then thou hast fastened thy hand to a stranger.)

² Thou art bound by the words of thy mouth; and thou art taken with thine own words (and thou art caught by thy own words, or thy promises).

³ Therefore, my son, do thou that that I say, and deliver thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, raise thy friend; (And so my son, do thou what I say, and save thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, implore thy friend;)

⁴ give thou not sleep to thine eyes, neither (let) thine eyelids nap.

⁵ Be thou ravished, as a doe from the hand; and as a bird from [the] ambushings of the fowler. (Be thou released, like a doe from the hand of the hunter; and like a bird from the ambush of the fowler.)

⁶ O! thou slow man (O! thou lazy one), go to the ant; and behold thou his ways, and learn thou wisdom.

⁷ Which when he hath no duke, neither commander, nor prince (nor leader);

⁸ maketh ready in summer meat to himself, and gathereth together in harvest that, that he shall eat. (prepareth food for himself in the summer, and gathereth together at harvest time what he shall eat.)

⁹ How long shalt thou, slow man, sleep? (How long shalt thou, O lazy one, sleep?) when shalt thou rise from thy sleep?

¹⁰ A little thou shalt sleep, a little thou shalt nap; (and) a little thou shalt join together thine hands that thou sleep (again).

¹¹ And then neediness, as a waygoer, shall come to thee; and poverty, as an armed man. Forsooth if thou art not slow (But if thou art not lazy), thy ripe corn shall come as a well; and neediness shall flee far from thee.

¹² A man apostate, a man unprofitable, (is) he (who) goeth with a wayward mouth;

¹³ he beckoneth with (the) eyes, he trampeth with the foot, he speaketh with the finger,

¹⁴ by shrewd heart he imagineth evil, and in all time he soweth dissensions. (with a depraved heart he imagineth all kinds of evil, and at all times he soweth discord.)

¹⁵ His perdition shall come to him anon, and he shall be broken suddenly; and he shall no more have medicine. (His perdition shall come upon him at once, and suddenly he shall be broken; and then he shall be without any remedy.)

¹⁶ Six things there be, which the Lord hateth; and his soul curseth the seventh thing.

¹⁷ High eyes, a tongue liar, that is, accustomable to deadly leasing (a lying tongue, that is, one accustomed to deadly lies), hands shedding out innocent blood,

¹⁸ an heart imagining full wicked thoughts, feet swift to run into evil (feet quick to run to evil),

¹⁹ a man bringing forth leasing, a false witness; and him that soweth discord among brethren. (a liar, that is, a false witness; and he who soweth discord among brothers, or among friends.)

²⁰ My son, keep the commandments of thy father; and forsake [thou] not the law of thy mother. (My son, obey thy father’s commands; and do not thou abandon thy mother’s instructions.)

²¹ Bind thou those continually in thine heart; and encompass to thy throat. (Bind thou them continually to thy heart; and tie them about thy neck.)

²² When thou goest, go they with thee; when thou sleepest, keep they thee (safe); and thou waking, speak with them.

²³ For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the law is light, and the blaming of teaching is the way of life; (For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the Law is a light, and the rebukes of discipline pointeth to the way of life;)

²⁴ (so) that they keep thee from an evil woman, and from a flattering tongue of a strange woman.

²⁵ Thine heart covet not the fairness of her; neither be thou taken (in) by the beckonings of her. (Do not let thy heart desire her beauty; nor be thou taken in by her beckonings.)

²⁶ For the price of a whore is scarcely a gobbet of bread; but (such) a woman taketh (away) the precious soul of a man.

²⁷ Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not; (Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his clothes not burn?)

²⁸ either go on coals, and his feet be not burnt? (or go upon coals, and his feet not be burned?)

²⁹ So he that entereth to the wife of his neighbour; (he) shall not be clean, when he hath touched her.

³⁰ It is no great sin, when a man stealeth; for he stealeth to fill an hungry soul.

³¹ And he taken shall yield the seventhfold (And if he is caught, he shall give back sevenfold); and he shall give all the chattel of his house, and (so he) shall deliver himself.

³² But he that is an adulterer, shall lose his soul, for the poverty of heart, that is, (for the) wanting of reason.

³³ He gathereth filth, and scandal to himself; and his shame shall not be done away.

³⁴ For the fervent love and strong vengeance of the man shall not spare in the day of vengeance, (For the husband’s fervent love, and desire for revenge, shall not spare him on the day of vengeance,)

³⁵ neither shall (the husband) assent to the prayers of any; neither he shall take many gifts for ransom (nor shall he take any number of gifts for recompense).

7 My son, keep thou my words; and keep my behests to thee. (My son, remember my words; and keep my commands with thee.)

² Keep thou my behests, and thou shalt live; and my law, as the apple of thine eye. (Keep thou my commands, and thou shalt live; and my instructions, or my teaching, as the apple of thine eyes.)

³ Bind thou it in thy fingers; write thou it in the tables of thine heart. (Bind thou it to thy fingers; write thou it on the tablets of thy heart.)

⁴ Say thou to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call thou prudence thy love (and call thou understanding, thy friend).

⁵ That it keep thee from a strange woman; and from an alien woman, that maketh her words sweet. (So that they keep thee safe from a strange woman; yea, from an unknown woman, who maketh her words sweet.)

⁶ (For she saith,) For why from the window of mine house, by the lattice, I beheld;

⁷ and I see little children, that is, fools that have little wit. I behold a young man coward, (and I see fools, who have little intelligence. I behold a cowardly young man,)

⁸ that passeth by the streets, beside the corner (who passeth along the street, beside the corner); and he goeth nigh the way of her house,

⁹ in dark time, when the day draweth to night, in the darkness and mist in the night.

¹⁰ And lo! a woman, made ready with (the) ornament of an whore to deceive souls, meeteth him,

¹¹ and she is a jangler, and going about, and unpatient of rest, and may not stand in the house with her feet; (and she is a gossip, who goeth about restlessly, yea, who cannot stand still in her own house;)

¹² and now withoutforth, now in [the] streets, now beside [the] corners, she ambusheth (him).

¹³ And she taketh (hold of), and kisseth the young man; and flattereth (him) with wooing cheer, that is, unrestful(ly), and without shame, and saith,

¹⁴ I owed sacrifices for health (I have paid my offerings for my deliverance); today I have yielded my vows.

¹⁵ Therefore I went out into thy meeting, and I desired to see thee; and I have found thee.

¹⁶ I have made (ready) my bed with cords, I have arrayed it with tapets painted of Egypt; (I have prepared my bed, yea, I have arrayed it with coloured tapestries from Egypt;)

¹⁷ I have besprinkled my bed with myrrh, and aloes, and canel (and cinnamon).

¹⁸ Come thou, be we filled with touching of teats, and use we embracings that be coveted; till the day begin to be clear.

¹⁹ For mine husband is not in his house; he is gone (away) a full long way.

²⁰ He took with him a bag of money; he shall turn again in to his house in the day of [the] full moon. (He took a bag of money with him; and he shall not return to his house until the day of the full moon.)

²¹ She bound him with many words; and she drew forth him with flatterings of lips. (And so she bound him with many words; and she drew him forth with the flattery from her lips.)

²² Anon he as an ox led to slain sacrifice followeth her, and as a jolly lamb and unknowing; and the fool knoweth not, that he is drawn to bonds, (And so at once he followeth her, like an ox led away to be slain for the offering, and like a jolly, and unknowing, lamb; and the fool knoweth not, that he is drawn into bonds,)

²³ till an arrow pierce his maw. As if a bird hasteth to the snare; and knoweth not, that it is done of the peril of his life. (until an arrow pierce his belly. Yea, like a bird that hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is done at the peril of its own life.)

²⁴ Now therefore, my son, hear thou me; and perceive the words of my mouth. (And so now, my son, listen thou to me; and understand the words that I speak.)

²⁵ Lest thy soul be drawn away in the ways of her; neither be thou deceived in the paths of her. (Lest thy life be drawn away by her ways; go thou not forth on her deceptive paths.)

²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded men; and all [the] strongest men were slain of her. (For she hath wounded, and cast down, many men; yea, even the strongest men have been slain by her.)

²⁷ The ways of hell is her house; and pierce(th) into the inner things of death. (Her house is the way, or the entrance, to Sheol/to hell; yea, it leadeth down to the land of the dead.)

2 And I ordained this [same] thing at me, that I should not come again in heaviness to you [in sorrow to you].

² For if I make you sorry, who is he that gladdeth me, but he that is sorrowful of me?

³ And this same thing I wrote to you, that when I come, I have not sorrow on sorrow, of the which it behooved me to have joy. And I trust in you all, that my joy is of all you^[a].

⁴ For of much tribulation and anguish of heart I wrote to you by many tears, not that ye be sorry, but that ye know what charity I have more plenteously in you.

⁵ For if any man hath made me sorrowful, he hath not made me sorrowful but a part [he hath not made me sorrowful but in part], that I charge not you all.

⁶ This blaming that is made of many, sufficeth to him, that is such one [that is such a manner man];

⁷ so that on the contrary ye rather forgive and comfort, lest peradventure he that is such a manner man, be swallowed up [be sopped up, or despair,] by more great heaviness.

⁸ For which thing I beseech you, that ye confirm charity into him.

⁹ For why therefore [and] I wrote this, that I know your proof, whether in all things ye be obedient.

¹⁰ For to whom ye have forgiven any thing, also I have forgiven. For I, that that I forgave, if I forgave any thing, have forgiven for you in the person of Christ,

¹¹ that we be not deceived of Satan; for we know his thoughts. [that we be not deceived of Satan; soothly we unknow not his thoughts.]

¹² But when I was come to Troas [Forsooth when I had come to Troas] for the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord,

¹³ I had not rest to my spirit, for I found not my brother Titus, but I said to them farewell, and I passed into Macedonia. [I had not rest in my spirit, for I found not my brother Titus, but I saying to them farewell, passed into Macedonia.]

¹⁴ And I do thankings to God, that evermore maketh us to have victory in Christ Jesus, and showeth by us the odour of his knowing in each place;^[b]

¹⁵ for we be the good odour of Christ to God, among these that be made safe, and among these that perish. [for we be the good odour, or savour, of Christ to God, in these that be made safe, and in these that perish.]

¹⁶ To others soothly odour of death into death [Soothly to others we be odour of death into death], but to the others we be odour of life into life. And to these things who is so able?

¹⁷ For we be not as many, that do adultery by the word of God, but we speak of cleanness, as of God, before God in Christ. [Soothly we be not as full many, adulterating the word of God, but of cleanness, but as of God, before God in Christ we speak.]