Wise Boundaries, Honest Work, and Faithful Desire

Proverbs 6

6:1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

6:2you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

6:3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

6:4Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

6:5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6:6Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

6:7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

6:8provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

6:9How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

6:10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—

6:11so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

6:12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth,

6:13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers,

6:14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

6:15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

6:16There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

6:17arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

6:19a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

6:20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

6:21Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

6:22When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

6:23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

6:24to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

6:25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

6:26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

6:27Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

6:28Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

6:29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

6:30Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,

6:31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

6:32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

6:33He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

6:34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.

6:35He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.