Proverbs 6:1-18 ▼

1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,

2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,

3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;

5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

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

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

11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,

13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,

14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

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

18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,