Warnings against Foolishness

1My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider,

2then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words.

3Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend.

4Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber.

5Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom.

7For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader,

8she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat.

9How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep?

10You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep,

11and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you.

12An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth;

13he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger.

14With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict.

15To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy.

16Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests:

17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil,

19a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

Warnings against Adultery

20My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother.

21Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat.

22When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them.

23For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.

24So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider.

25Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks.

26For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man.

27Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn?

28Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned?

29So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her.

30Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul.

31Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house.

32But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul.

33He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

34For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication,

35nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts.