Chapter 6

My son, if thou hast become surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand for a stranger,

thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, since thou hast come into the hand of thy friend: go, humble thyself, and be urgent with thy friend.

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids:

deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise:

which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

provideth her bread in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long, sluggard, wilt thou lie down? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest!

So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man.

A man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth;

he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

deceits are in his heart; he deviseth mischief at all times, he soweth discords.

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly: in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy.

These six [things] doth Jehovah hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood;

a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; feet that are swift in running to mischief;

a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discords among brethren.

My son, observe thy father's commandment, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck:

when thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and [when] thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids;

for by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a loaf of bread, and another's wife doth hunt for the precious soul.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned?

Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

They do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry:

and if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

Whoso committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

A wound and contempt shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance;

he will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou multipliest [thy] gifts.