Proverbs 6:1-14 ▼

1 My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Or have given a handshake for a stranger,

2 If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth, Or caught by the words of your mouth,

3 Then do this, my son, and save yourself: Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.

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

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

6 Go to the ant, you lazy one, Observe its ways and be wise,

7 Which, having no chief, Officer, or ruler,

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

9 How long will you lie down, you lazy one? When will you arise from your sleep?

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

11 Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

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

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

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