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Texts -- Proverbs 6:1-12 (NET)

Context
Admonitions and Warnings against Dangerous and Destructive Acts
6:1 My child , if you have made a pledge for your neighbor , and have become a guarantor for a stranger , 6:2 if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered , and have been caught by the words you have spoken , 6:3 then , my child , do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power : go , humble yourself , and appeal firmly to your neighbor . 6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids . 6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare , and like a bird from the trap of the fowler . 6:6 Go to the ant , you sluggard ; observe its ways and be wise ! 6:7 It has no commander , overseer , or ruler , 6:8 yet it prepares its food in the summer ; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat . 6:9 How long , you sluggard , will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep ? 6:10 A little sleep , a little slumber , a little folding of the hands to relax , 6:11 and your poverty will come like a robber , and your need like an armed man . 6:12 A worthless and wicked person walks around saying perverse things;

Pericope

NET
  • Pro 6:1-35 -- Admonitions and Warnings against Dangerous and Destructive Acts

Bible Dictionary

  • Young Men

    [nave] YOUNG MEN. Ex. 24:3-5; 1 Kin. 12:6-15 2 Chr. 10:8. Psa. 119:9; Psa. 148:12, 13; Prov. 1:1-33; Prov. 2:1-22; Prov. 3:1-35; Prov. 4:1-27; Prov. 5:1-23 Prov. 31:1-3. Prov. 6:1-35; Prov. 7:1-27; Prov. 10:1; Prov. 13:1; Prov. 15...

  • WISDOM

    [isbe] WISDOM - wiz'-dum: 1. Linguistic 2. History 3. Religious Basis 4. Ideals 5. Teaching of Christ 6. Remainder of the New Testament (1) James (2) Paul 7. Hypostasis LITERATURE 1. Linguistic: In the Revised Version (British and ...

  • Surety

    [ebd] one who becomes responsible for another. Christ is the surety of the better covenant (Heb. 7:22). In him we have the assurance that all its provisions will be fully and faithfully carried out. Solomon warns against incautiou...
    [isbe] SURETY - shoor'-ti: This word is used in three different connections or groups: (1) As a derivative of the word "sure" it means "of a certainty" or "surely."--In Gen 15:13 the infinitive absolute of the verb is used to give ...
    [nave] SURETY, Gen. 44:32; Ex. 22:26, 27; Deut. 24:10-13; Job 24:3; Prov. 6:1-5; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 22:26, 27; 27:13; Ezek. 18:7, 12; 33:15; Amos 2:8.

  • SLUGGARD

    [isbe] SLUGGARD - slug'-ard: Found only in the Old Testament, and there only in Proverbs. It is the rendering given the word 'atsel everywhere in the Revised Version (British and American), but in the King James Version only in Pro...

  • RULER

    [isbe] RULER - rool'-er: 1. In the Old Testament: (1) moshel, "ruler," "prince," "master" (tyrant), applied to Joseph in Egypt (Gen 45:8; compare Ps 105:21); to the Philistines (Jdg 15:11); to David's descendants, the future kings ...

  • ROE; ROEBUCK

    [isbe] ROE; ROEBUCK - ro, ro'-buk: the King James Version has "roe" and "roebuck" for tsehi, tsebhiyah. the Revised Version (British and American) usually substitutes "gazelle" in the text (Dt 12:15, etc.) or margin (Prov 6:5, etc....

  • Poetry

    [ebd] has been well defined as "the measured language of emotion." Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man's relation to God. "Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon, redemption, repentance are the a...

  • PROVERBS, THE BOOK OF

    [isbe] PROVERBS, THE BOOK OF - prov'-erbz: I. THE BOOK'S ACCOUNT OF ITSELF 1. Title and Headings 2. Authorship or Literary Species? II. THE SUCCESSIVE COMPILATIONS 1. The Introductory Section 2. The Classic Nucleus 3. A Body of Sol...

  • POOR

    [isbe] POOR - poor ('ebhyon, dal, `ani, rush; ptochos): I. In the Old Testament. The poor have great prominence in the Bible; it is said, indeed, that there should be no poor among the Hebrews because Yahweh should so greatly bless...

  • PERSON, PERSONALITY

    [isbe] PERSON, PERSONALITY - pur'-sun, pur'-s'n, pur-un-al'-ti (nephesh, 'ish, 'adham, panim, prosopon, hupostasis): The most frequent word for "person" in the Old Testament is nephesh, "soul" (Gen 14:21, "Give me the persons, and ...

  • NAUGHT; NAUGHTY; NAUGHTINESS

    [isbe] NAUGHT; NAUGHTY; NAUGHTINESS - not, no'-ti, nes: In the sense of bad, worthless, worthlessness, the words in the King James Version represent the Hebrew ra`, changed in the Revised Version (British and American) to "bad" (2 ...

  • LOAN

    [ebd] The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19, 20; Lev...
    [smith] The law strictly forbade any interest to be taken for a loan to any poor person, and at first, as it seems, even in the case of a foreigner; but this prohibition was afterward limited to Hebrews only, from whom, of whatever r...

  • HUNTING

    [isbe] HUNTING - hunt'-ing (tsayidh): The hunting of wild animals for sport, or for the defense of men and flocks, or for food, was common in Western Asia and Egypt, especially in early times. Some of the Egyptian and Assyrian king...

  • HARVEST

    [isbe] HARVEST - har'-vest (qatsir; therismos): To many of us, harvest time is of little concern, because in our complex life we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies, but for the Hebrew people, as for tho...

  • GUIDE

    [isbe] GUIDE - gid ('alluph, nachal, nachah; hodegos, hodegeo): "Guide" (noun) is the translation of 'alluph, "an intimate," "a friend," the leader of a family or tribe: Ps 55:13, "a man mine equal, my guide," the Revised Version (...

  • GESTURE

    [isbe] GESTURE - jes'-tur, jes'-tur: The Oriental is rich in gestures by which feelings are expressed and force added to words. Of this we have abundant illustration in the Bible. Almost every available part of the body was employe...

  • GAZELLE

    [isbe] GAZELLE - ga-zel' (tsebhi, and feminine tsebhiyah; compare Tabeitha (Acts 9:36), and Arabic zabi; also Arabic ghazal; Dorkas (Acts 9:36); modern Greek zarkadi): The word "gazelle" does not occur in the King James Version, wh...

  • FOWLER

    [ebd] the arts of, referred to Ps. 91:3; 124:7; Prov. 6:5; Jer. 5:26; Hos. 9:8; Ezek. 17:20; Eccl. 9:12. Birds of all kinds abound in Palestine, and the capture of these for the table and for other uses formed the employment of ma...
    [isbe] FOWLER - foul'-er (yoqesh): A professional birdcatcher. In the days previous to firearms, birds were captured with nets spread on the ground, in traps and snares. There was a method of taking young birds from a nest, raising...

  • FOLD; FOLDING

    [isbe] FOLD; FOLDING - fold fold'-ing (verb; chabhaq, sabhakh; helisso): The verb occurs only 3 times in the King James Version, and in each instance represents a different word; we have chabhaq "to clasp" (Eccl 4:5), "The fool fol...

  • Belial

    [ebd] worthlessness, frequently used in the Old Testament as a proper name. It is first used in Deut. 13:13. In the New Testament it is found only in 2 Cor. 6:15, where it is used as a name of Satan, the personification of all tha...

Arts

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel"(cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon."The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs....
  • Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.4Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).5Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote ot...
  • The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals,...
  • I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9A. Introduction to the book 1:1-71. The title of the book 1:12. The purpose of the book 1:2-63. The thesis of the book 1:7B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:271. Warning against consorting w...
  • Verse one introduces both the book as a whole and chapters 1-9 in particular. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of at least five separate groups of proverbs. There are those that Solomon spoke and or wrote (possibly chs. 1...
  • The two ways (paths) introduced in 1:7 stretch out before the reader (cf. Matt. 7:13-14). In this section Solomon spoke to his son guiding him into God's way. "My son"was and is a customary way of addressing a disciple."It de...
  • Chapters 5-7 all deal with the consequences of sexual sins: eventual disappointment (ch. 5), gradual destruction (ch. 6), and ultimate death (ch. 7).67Chapter 5 first reveals the ugliness under the surface of the attractive s...
  • Solomon singled out a few more serious errors to avoid in addition to marital unfaithfulness. These include assuming liability for the debts of others (vv. 1-5), being lazy (vv. 6-11), being untruthful (vv. 12-15), and seven ...
  • Verses 20-23 indicate the start of a new section and stress again the importance of the precepts that follow. Solomon regarded the instruction he was giving as an expression of God's law (cf. v. 23; Ps. 109:105).The immoral a...
  • The parallel between wisdom's invitation and the one Jesus Christ extended to everyone to come to His feast shows the similarity between wisdom and responding positively to God's Word (Matt. 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24). The "seve...
  • Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon evidently wrote urging his sons to choose the way of wisdom for their lives.92At 10:1 we begin the part of the book that sets forth what the wise way is in a vari...
  • A third major section of the Book of Proverbs begins with 22:17. This is clear from several indicators. The proverbs lengthen out again from the typical one verse couplet that characterizes 10:1-26:16 (cf. chs. 1-9). The phra...
  • As in chapters 1-9, the writer began this section of the book with an exhortation to hear and give heed to the words of wisdom that follow (22:17-21)."This extended introduction reminds us that the wise sayings were not curio...
  • 22:22-23 Note the chiastic structure in these four lines that unifies the thought of the passage: violence, litigation, litigation, violence. God will avenge the poor on those who oppress them.22:24-25 The writer gave a reaso...
  • We return now to the proverbs of Solomon (cf. 1:1-22:16). Chapters 25-26 contain proverbs that are mainly comparisons. The key words in these chapters are "like . . . so."Chapter 27 is a mixture of comparative and antithetica...
  • 25:1 A group of scholars who served during King Hezekiah's reign (715-686 B.C.) added more of Solomon's 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32) to the former collection (1:1-22:16). These men lived about 250 years after Solomon. Solomo...
  • This poem recalls the earlier discourses in chapters 1-9. In this one, Solomon gave some basic and practical advice designed to assure success in the context of Israel's most common occupation, animal husbandry.The essentials...
  • Chapters 30 and 31 form a distinct section in Proverbs because neither Solomon (1:1-22:16; chs. 25-29) nor the unnamed sages (22:17-24:34) wrote them. Two other wise men whose names the text records did. Some expositors specu...
  • The quality of wisdom that Proverbs presents is much more than the ability to apply knowledge to various situations in life effectively. It also involves submission to the way of God that is the order of life God has revealed...
  • Aitken, Kenneth T. Proverbs. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986.Alden, Robert L. Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984.Archer, Gleason L., Jr. Encyclopedia of Bi...
  • Even though the righteous sometimes do not receive a reward in this life and the wicked prosper, it is still better to live righteously."Proper evaluation of a man's character helps to explain the apparent inequalities in div...
  • 6:19-21 In view of the imminence of the kingdom, Jesus' disciples should "stop laying up treasures on earth."329Jesus called for a break with their former practice. Clearly money is not evil. The wise person works hard and ma...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Our text is followed at the distance of one verse with what seemed to be the words of the sluggard in answer to the attempt to awake him: Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.' They are...
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