Practical Warnings

¹My son, if you have put up esecurity for your neighbor,

have egiven your pledge for a stranger,

²if you are fsnared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

³then do this, my son, and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten,1 and gplead urgently with your neighbor.

⁴hGive your eyes no sleep

and your eyelids no slumber;

⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,2

ilike a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶jGo to kthe ant, O lsluggard;

consider her ways, and mbe wise.

⁷nWithout having any chief,

oofficer, or ruler,

⁸she prepares her bread pin summer

and qgathers her food in harvest.

⁹rHow long will you lie there, lO sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁰sA little sleep, a little slumber,

ta little sfolding of the hands to rest,

¹¹uand poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

¹²vA worthless person, a wicked man,

goes about with wcrooked speech,

¹³xwinks with his eyes, signals3 with his feet,

points with his finger,

¹⁴with yperverted heart zdevises evil,

continually asowing discord;

¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

bin a moment he will be broken cbeyond healing.

¹⁶There are dsix things that the Lord hates,

dseven that are an abomination to him:

¹⁷ehaughty eyes, fa lying tongue,

and ghands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ha heart that devises wicked plans,

ifeet that make haste to run to evil,

¹⁹ja false witness who kbreathes out lies,

and one who asows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

²⁰lMy son, keep your father's commandment,

land forsake not your mother's teaching.

²¹mBind them on your heart always;

ntie them around your neck.

²²oWhen you walk, they4 will lead you;

owhen you lie down, they will pwatch over you;

and when you awake, they will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is qa lamp and the teaching a light,

and the rreproofs of discipline are the way of life,

²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman,5

from the smooth tongue of sthe adulteress.6

²⁵tDo not desire her beauty in your heart,

and do not let her capture you with her ueyelashes;

²⁶for vthe price of a prostitute is only wa loaf of bread,7

but a married woman8 xhunts down a precious life.

²⁷Can a man carry yfire next to his zchest

and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one awalk on hot coals

and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;

none who touches her bwill go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals

to csatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

³¹but dif he is caught, he will pay esevenfold;

he will give all the goods of his house.

³²He who commits adultery lacks sense;

he who does it destroys himself.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor,

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

³⁴For fjealousy makes a man furious,

and he will not spare when ghe takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation;

he will refuse though you multiply gifts.