6:1
My child, if you have gone surety for your neighbour, if you have guaranteed the bond of a stranger,
6:2
if you have committed yourself with your lips, if through words of yours you have been entrapped,
6:3
do this, my child, to extricate yourself -- since you have put yourself in the power of your neighbour: go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbour,
6:4
give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no rest,
6:5
break free like a gazelle from the trap, like a bird from the fowler's clutches.
6:6
Idler, go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise:
6:7
no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master,
6:8
yet all through the summer she gets her food ready, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.
6:9
How long do you intend to lie there, idler? When are you going to rise from your sleep?
6:10
A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back,
6:11
and poverty comes like a vagrant and, like a beggar, dearth.
6:12
A scoundrel, a vicious man, he goes with a leer on his lips,
6:13
winking his eye, shuffling his foot, beckoning with his finger.
6:14
Trickery in his heart, always scheming evil, he sows dissension.
6:15
Disaster will overtake him sharply for this, suddenly, irretrievably, he will be broken.
6:16
There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that he abhors:
6:17
a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
6:18
a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil,
6:19
a false witness who lies with every breath, and one who sows dissension among brothers.
6:20
Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.
6:21
Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.
6:22
While you are active, they will guide you, when you fall asleep, they will watch over you, when you wake up, they will converse with you.
6:23
For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,
6:24
preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs to another.
6:25
Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes;
6:26
a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.
6:27
Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight?
6:28
Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet?
6:29
Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbour's wife: no one who touches her will get off unpunished.
6:30
People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger;
6:31
yet even he, if caught, will have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.
6:32
But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction.
6:33
All he will get is blows and contempt, and dishonour never to be blotted out.
6:34
For jealousy inflames the husband who will show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;
6:35
he will not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he will not be placated.
Previous
Next