Chapter 6

  My son, if thou hast become surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand for a stranger,  

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  thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.  

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  Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, since thou hast come into the hand of thy friend: go, humble thyself, and be urgent with thy friend.  

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  Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids:  

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  deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.  

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  Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise:  

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  which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,  

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  provideth her bread in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest.  

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  How long, sluggard, wilt thou lie down? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?  

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  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest!  

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  So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man.  

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  A man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth;  

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  he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;  

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  deceits are in his heart; he deviseth mischief at all times, he soweth discords.  

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  Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly: in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy.  

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  These six [things] doth Jehovah hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him:  

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  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood;  

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  a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; feet that are swift in running to mischief;  

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  a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discords among brethren.  

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  My son, observe thy father's commandment, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;  

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  bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck:  

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  when thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and [when] thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.  

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  For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:  

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  to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.  

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  Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids;  

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  for by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a loaf of bread, and another's wife doth hunt for the precious soul.  

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  Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned?  

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  Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?  

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  So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.  

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  They do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry:  

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  and if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.  

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  Whoso committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.  

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  A wound and contempt shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.  

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  For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance;  

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  he will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou multipliest [thy] gifts.  

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