Parental Counsel

1My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor,
         Have given a pledge for a stranger,

2If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
         Have been caught with the words of your mouth,

3Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
         Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
         Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.

4Give no sleep to your eyes,
         Nor slumber to your eyelids;

5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand
         And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, O sluggard,
         Observe her ways and be wise,

7Which, having no chief,
         Officer or ruler,

8Prepares her food in the summer
         And gathers her provision in the harvest.

9How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
         When will you arise from your sleep?

10“A little sleep, a little slumber,
         A little folding of the hands to rest”—

11Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
         And your need like an armed man.

12A worthless person, a wicked man,
         Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

13Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
         Who points with his fingers;

14Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
         Who spreads strife.

15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
         Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

16There are six things which the LORD hates,
         Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
         And hands that shed innocent blood,

18A heart that devises wicked plans,
         Feet that run rapidly to evil,

19A false witness who utters lies,
         And one who spreads strife among brothers.

20My son, observe the commandment of your father
         And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;

21Bind them continually on your heart;
         Tie them around your neck.

22When you walk about, they will guide you;
         When you sleep, they will watch over you;
         And when you awake, they will talk to you.

23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
         And reproofs for discipline are the way of life

24To keep you from the evil woman,
         From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

25Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
         Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

26For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,
         And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

27Can a man take fire in his bosom
         And his clothes not be burned?

28Or can a man walk on hot coals
         And his feet not be scorched?

29So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
         Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

30Men do not despise a thief if he steals
         To satisfy himself when he is hungry;

31But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;
         He must give all the substance of his house.

32The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense;
         He who would destroy himself does it.

33Wounds and disgrace he will find,
         And his reproach will not be blotted out.

34For jealousy enrages a man,
         And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35He will not accept any ransom,
         Nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger;

Douay-Rheims Bible
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger.

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

English Revised Version
My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbour, if thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger,

Webster's Bible Translation
My son, if thou art surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

World English Bible
My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

Young's Literal Translation
My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,The Talking Book
A Sermon (No. 1017) Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, October 22nd, 1871 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee."--Proverbs 6:22. It is a very happy circumstance when the commandment of our father and the law of our mother are also the commandment of God and the law of the Lord. Happy are they who have a double force to draw them to the right--the bonds of nature, and the cords of grace. They sin with a vengeance who sin both against …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

An Appeal to Children of Godly Parents
A sermon (No. 2406) intended for reading on Lord's Day, March 31st, 1895, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, on Lord's Day evening, March 27th, 1887. "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Talking Book
In order that we may be persuaded so to do, Solomon gives us three telling reasons. He says that God's law, by which I understand the whole run of Scripture, and, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be a guide to us:--"When thou goest, it shall lead thee." It will be a guardian to us: "When thou sleepest"--when thou art defenceless and off thy guard--"it shall keep thee." And it shall also be a dear companion to us: "When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Any one of these three arguments …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

How Sowers of Strifes and Peacemakers are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 24.) Differently to be admonished are sowers of strifes and peacemakers. For sowers of strifes are to be admonished to perceive whose followers they are. For of the apostate angel it is written, when tares had been sown among the good crop, An enemy hath done this (Matth. xiii. 28). Of a member of him also it is said through Solomon, An apostate person, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth, he winketh with his eyes, he beateth with his foot, he speaketh with his finger, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

A Jealous God
I. Reverently, let us remember that THE LORD IS EXCEEDINGLY JEALOUS OF HIS DEITY. Our text is coupled with the command--"Thou shalt worship no other God." When the law was thundered from Sinai, the second commandment received force from the divine jealousy--"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Preface to the Commandments
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God,' &c. Exod 20: 1, 2. What is the preface to the Ten Commandments? The preface to the Ten Commandments is, I am the Lord thy God.' The preface to the preface is, God spake all these words, saying,' &c. This is like the sounding of a trumpet before a solemn proclamation. Other parts of the Bible are said to be uttered by the mouth of the holy prophets (Luke 1: 70), but here God spake in his own person. How are we to understand that, God spake, …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

"Boast not Thyself of to Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. "
Prov. xxvii. 1.--"Boast not thyself of to morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." As man is naturally given to boasting and gloriation in something (for the heart cannot want some object to rest upon and take complacency in, it is framed with such a capacity of employing other things), so there is a strong inclination in man towards the time to come, he hath an immortal appetite, and an appetite of immortality; and therefore his desires usually stretch farther than the present …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Heavenly Footman; Or, a Description of the Man that Gets to Heaven:
TOGETHER WITH THE WAY HE RUNS IN, THE MARKS HE GOES BY; ALSO, SOME DIRECTIONS HOW TO RUN SO AS TO OBTAIN. 'And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.'--Genesis 19:17. London: Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch Street, 1698. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. About forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

In Death and after Death
A sadder picture could scarcely be drawn than that of the dying Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, that "light of Israel" immediately before and after the destruction of the Temple, and for two years the president of the Sanhedrim. We read in the Talmud (Ber. 28 b) that, when his disciples came to see him on his death-bed, he burst into tears. To their astonished inquiry why he, "the light of Israel, the right pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer," betrayed such signs of fear, he replied: "If I were …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

"And Watch unto Prayer. "
1 Pet. iv. 7.--"And watch unto prayer." "Watch." A Christian should watch. A Christian is a watchman by office. This duty of watchfulness is frequently commanded and commended in scripture, Matt. xxiv. 42, Mark xiii. 33, 1 Cor. xvi. 13, Eph. vi. 18, 1 Pet. v. 8, Col. iv. 2; Luke xii. 37. David did wait as they that did watch for the morning light. The ministers of the gospel are styled watchmen in scripture and every Christian should be to himself as a minister is to his flock, he should watch over …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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