Proverbs 6:2-35

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.

6:22 When you walk about, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

6:23 For the commandments are like a lamp,

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life,

6:24 by keeping you from the evil woman,

from the smooth tongue of the loose woman.

6:25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty,

and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes;

6:26 for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread,

but the wife of another man preys on your precious life.

6:27 Can a man hold fire against his chest

without burning his clothes?

6:28 Can a man walk on hot coals

without scorching his feet?

6:29 So it is with the one who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;

no one who touches her will escape punishment.

6:30 People do not despise a thief when he steals

to fulfill his need when he is hungry.

6:31 Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over,

he might even have to give all the wealth of his house.

6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom,

whoever does it destroys his own life.

6:33 He will be beaten and despised,

and his reproach will not be wiped away;

6:34 for jealousy kindles a husband’s rage,

and he will not show mercy when he takes revenge.

6:35 He will not consider any compensation;

he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation.