Proverbs 6

Practical Warnings [1] My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, [2] if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, [3] then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. [4] Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; [5] save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. [6] Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. [7] Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, [8] she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. [9] How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? [10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, [11] and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. [12] A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, [13] winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, [14] with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; [15] therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. [16] There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: [17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, [18] a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, [19] a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Warnings Against Adultery [20] My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. [21] Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. [22] When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. [23] For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, [24] to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. [25] Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; [26] for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. [27] Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? [28] Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? [29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished. [30] People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, [31] but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house. [32] He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. [33] He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. [34] For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. [35] He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts. (ESV)