2Thou art bound by the words of thy mouth; and thou art taken with thine own words (and thou art caught by thy own words, or thy promises).

3Therefore, my son, do thou that that I say, and deliver thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, raise thy friend; (And so my son, do thou what I say, and save thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, implore thy friend;)

4give thou not sleep to thine eyes, neither (let) thine eyelids nap.

5Be thou ravished, as a doe from the hand; and as a bird from [the] ambushings of the fowler. (Be thou released, like a doe from the hand of the hunter; and like a bird from the ambush of the fowler.)

6O! thou slow man (O! thou lazy one), go to the ant; and behold thou his ways, and learn thou wisdom.

7Which when he hath no duke, neither commander, nor prince (nor leader);

8maketh ready in summer meat to himself, and gathereth together in harvest that, that he shall eat. (prepareth food for himself in the summer, and gathereth together at harvest time what he shall eat.)

9How long shalt thou, slow man, sleep? (How long shalt thou, O lazy one, sleep?) when shalt thou rise from thy sleep?

10A little thou shalt sleep, a little thou shalt nap; (and) a little thou shalt join together thine hands that thou sleep (again).

11And then neediness, as a waygoer, shall come to thee; and poverty, as an armed man. Forsooth if thou art not slow (But if thou art not lazy), thy ripe corn shall come as a well; and neediness shall flee far from thee.

12A man apostate, a man unprofitable, (is) he (who) goeth with a wayward mouth;

13he beckoneth with (the) eyes, he trampeth with the foot, he speaketh with the finger,

14by shrewd heart he imagineth evil, and in all time he soweth dissensions. (with a depraved heart he imagineth all kinds of evil, and at all times he soweth discord.)

15His perdition shall come to him anon, and he shall be broken suddenly; and he shall no more have medicine. (His perdition shall come upon him at once, and suddenly he shall be broken; and then he shall be without any remedy.)

16Six things there be, which the Lord hateth; and his soul curseth the seventh thing.

17High eyes, a tongue liar, that is, accustomable to deadly leasing (a lying tongue, that is, one accustomed to deadly lies), hands shedding out innocent blood,

18an heart imagining full wicked thoughts, feet swift to run into evil (feet quick to run to evil),

19a man bringing forth leasing, a false witness; and him that soweth discord among brethren. (a liar, that is, a false witness; and he who soweth discord among brothers, or among friends.)

20My son, keep the commandments of thy father; and forsake [thou] not the law of thy mother. (My son, obey thy father’s commands; and do not thou abandon thy mother’s instructions.)

21Bind thou those continually in thine heart; and encompass to thy throat. (Bind thou them continually to thy heart; and tie them about thy neck.)

22When thou goest, go they with thee; when thou sleepest, keep they thee (safe); and thou waking, speak with them.

23For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the law is light, and the blaming of teaching is the way of life; (For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the Law is a light, and the rebukes of discipline pointeth to the way of life;)

24(so) that they keep thee from an evil woman, and from a flattering tongue of a strange woman.

25Thine heart covet not the fairness of her; neither be thou taken (in) by the beckonings of her. (Do not let thy heart desire her beauty; nor be thou taken in by her beckonings.)

26For the price of a whore is scarcely a gobbet of bread; but (such) a woman taketh (away) the precious soul of a man.

27Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not; (Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his clothes not burn?)

28either go on coals, and his feet be not burnt? (or go upon coals, and his feet not be burned?)

29So he that entereth to the wife of his neighbour; (he) shall not be clean, when he hath touched her.

30It is no great sin, when a man stealeth; for he stealeth to fill an hungry soul.

31And he taken shall yield the seventhfold (And if he is caught, he shall give back sevenfold); and he shall give all the chattel of his house, and (so he) shall deliver himself.

32But he that is an adulterer, shall lose his soul, for the poverty of heart, that is, (for the) wanting of reason.

33He gathereth filth, and scandal to himself; and his shame shall not be done away.

34For the fervent love and strong vengeance of the man shall not spare in the day of vengeance, (For the husband’s fervent love, and desire for revenge, shall not spare him on the day of vengeance,)

35neither shall (the husband) assent to the prayers of any; neither he shall take many gifts for ransom (nor shall he take any number of gifts for recompense).