| 1 My son, if you have stood bail for your neighbor or guaranteed the word of a stranger; | |
| 2 if you have committed yourself with your own lips, know that you have trapped yourself with your own words. | |
| 3 Then do this, my son: release yourself. If you have fallen into the hands of your neighbor, go speedily, kneel down and plead with him; | |
| 4 do not give sleep to your eyes or rest to your eyelids. | |
| 5 Break free, like a gazelle from the trap or a bird from the hand. | |
| 6 You idler, go to the ant, watch her ways and be wise. | |
| 7 She has no master, no steward or overseer. | |
| 8 She secures food in summer and stores up provisions during harvest time. | |
| 9 How long, you idler, are you going to lie around? When do you intend to rise from sleep? | |
| 10 A little sleep, a little drowsiness and your laziness creeps upon you and then, like a tramp, | |
| 11 poverty comes, bringing misery like a vagabond. | |
| 12 The villain, the unjust man, goes about with a sneer on his lips, | |
| 13 winking his eye, shuffling his feet and beckoning with his finger. | |
| 14 His heart is deceitful; he is forever plotting evil and causing arguments. | |
| 15 Therefore, disaster will suddenly and irrevocably overtake him. | |
| 16 There are six things Yahweh hates; seven his inner being detests: | |
| 17 the proud look, the lying tongue, hands which spill innocent blood, | |
| 18 the depraved heart, feet which speed towards evil, | |
| 19 a false and lying witness and the one who sows discord among people. | |
| 20 My son, respect your father’s instruction and do not reject your mother’s teaching. | |
| 21 Hold them forever in your heart and hang them around your neck. | |
| 22 These will guard your footsteps, protect you when you sleep and speak to you on waking. | |
| 23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light; correction teaches you the way of life. | |
| 24 It will protect you from the evil woman, the smooth talking of the stranger. | |
| 25 Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with her looks. | |
| 26 For the prostitute deserves a piece of bread but the adulteress hunts after your worthy life. | |
| 27 Can you hold fire in your pocket without setting fire to your clothes or | |
| 28 walk on hot coals without burning your feet? | |
| 29 So it is for the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife: all who touch her will be punished. | |
| 30 One does not condemn the hungry thief who steals to fill his stomach; | |
| 31 nevertheless, if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold and give all the goods in his house. | |
| 32 How senseless is the adulterer! Whoever commits adultery destroys himself. | |
| 33 He will reap blows and contempt and his disgrace will not be erased. | |
| 34 Jealousy inflames the husband’s heart and when he can take revenge he will have no mercy. | |
| 35 He will accept nothing, neither reparation nor lavish gifts. | |
