Proverbs

¹My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider, ↗

²then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words. ↗

³Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend. ↗

⁴Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber. ↗

⁵Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. ↗

⁶Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom. ↗

⁷For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader, ↗

⁸she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat. ↗

⁹How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep? ↗

¹⁰You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep, ↗

¹¹and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you. ↗

¹²An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth; ↗

¹³he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger. ↗

¹⁴With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict. ↗

¹⁵To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy. ↗

¹⁶Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests: ↗

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ↗

¹⁸a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil, ↗

¹⁹a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. ↗

²⁰My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother. ↗

²¹Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat. ↗

²²When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them. ↗

²³For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. ↗

²⁴So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider. ↗

²⁵Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks. ↗

²⁶For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man. ↗

²⁷Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn? ↗

²⁸Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned? ↗

²⁹So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her. ↗

³⁰Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul. ↗

³¹Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house. ↗

³²But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul. ↗

³³He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. ↗

³⁴For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication, ↗

³⁵nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts. ↗