Proverbs 6 · Clearspring

Warnings against Foolishness

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,+ ²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,+ ³then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor.+ ⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.+ ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.+ ⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.+ ⁷Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,+ ⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.+ ⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?+ ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,+ ¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.+ ¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,+ ¹³winking his eyes, speaking with his feet, and pointing with his fingers.+ ¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.+ ¹⁵Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.+ ¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:+ ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,+ ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,+ ¹⁹a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.+

Warnings against Adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.+ ²¹Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck.+ ²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.+ ²³For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,+ ²⁴to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.+ ²⁵Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.+ ²⁶For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.+ ²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?+ ²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? ²⁹So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.+ ³⁰Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.+ ³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.+ ³²He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.+ ³³Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.+ ³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.+ ³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.+

Warnings against Foolishness

Warnings against Adultery

Study Proverbs 6