Proverbs 6
1 My son, if someone has borrowed money from a friend or a stranger, and if you have promised that you will pay the money back if that person is unable to pay back the money he borrowed,
MY son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
2 you may be trapped by what you have agreed to do, [because if the one who borrowed the money is not able to pay it back, you will have to pay it]. What you have said that you will do will be like a snare to you.
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
3 So, my son, I will tell you what you should do to escape from your difficulty, so that the moneylender does not get control over your [wealth: ] Humbly go to your friend and plead with him [to cancel the agreement]!
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
4 Do not wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 They do not have a king or a governor or any [other] person who rules them [and forces them to work],
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 [but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 [But], you lazy loafer, how long will you [continue to] sleep [RHQ]? Are you never going to get up from sleeping [and go to work]?
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 You sleep a for a little time; [you say, “I will take] just a short nap.” You lie down and fold/lay your hands [across your chest] and rest;
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 and suddenly you will become poor. It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
12 [I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
13 by winking their eyes and moving their feet and making signs with their fingers, they signal [to their friends what they are intending/planning to do].
He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
14 They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
15 But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
16 There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 People who show by their eyes that they are very proud; people who lie [MTY]; people [SYN] who kill others [SYN] who have done nothing wrong;
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
20 My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21 Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 [If you follow our advice, it will be as though] what we have taught you [PRS] will lead you, wherever you go. When you sleep, they will protect you. And when you wake up in the morning, they will teach/instruct you.
When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
23 These commands and what we teach you [will be like] a lamp to light your path [MET]. When we rebuke you and correct/punish you, we will be showing you the road to having [a good] life.
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
24 Heeding [PRS] these commands and things that we have taught you will enable you to keep away from immoral women and from [listening to] the enticing words of an adulterous woman.
To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 [Even] if such a woman is beautiful and has lovely eyes, do not desire to go with her. Do not let her persuade you to go with her (with her eyes/by the way she looks at you).
Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
26 [Do not forget that] you can hire a prostitute for only a loaf of bread, but [if you sleep with] another man’s wife, (it may cost you/you may lose) your life.
For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
27 Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 [No]! And in the same way, anyone who (sleeps with/has sex with) another man’s wife will [suffer for doing that]. [He will certainly] [LIT] be punished severely.
So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
30 We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31 But [if he steals something and then] is caught [by the police], he will have to pay back (seven times as much as/much more than) he stole. He may need to sell everything that is in his house [to get enough money to pay it back].
But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 [But] a man who commits adultery with some woman is very foolish, [because] he is destroying his own self/soul [by what he is doing].
But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33 [That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
34 Because that woman’s husband will (be jealous/not want anyone else to sleep with her), he will become furious, and when he gets revenge, he will not act mercifully [toward the man who slept with his wife].
For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 And he will not accept any bribe/money, even if it is a big bribe, to (appease him/cause him to stop being angry).
He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
