Proverbs 6:1-21

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;

6:13 he winks with his eyes,

signals with his feet,

and points with his fingers;

6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts in his heart,

he spreads contention at all times.

6:15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;

in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

6:16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

even seven things that are an abomination to him:

6:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift to run to evil,

6:19 a false witness who pours out lies,

and a person who spreads discord among family members.

6:20 My child, guard the commands of your father

and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

6:21 Bind them on your heart continually;

fasten them around your neck.