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 you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for 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.
you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your 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 yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.
4 Do not wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
Go to the ant, you 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 chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 [but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
provides her bread in the summer, and gathers 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 will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your 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;
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 your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.
12 [I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse 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].
who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers,
14 They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.
15 But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.
16 There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to 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;
arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18 people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
19 people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.
20 My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your 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 you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.
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. 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 you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
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).
Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you 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 a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
27 Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?
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 is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
30 We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself 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 is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth 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].
He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.
33 [That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will 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 arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t 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 won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
