Warnings against Foolishness

1My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,

2Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,

3Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,

4Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,

5Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.

6Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;

7Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,

8She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.

9Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep?

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

11And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.

12A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,

13Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,

14Frowardness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.

15Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken—and no healing.

16These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven [are] abominations to His soul.

17Eyes high—tongues false—And hands shedding innocent blood—

18A heart devising thoughts of vanity—Feet hasting to run to evil—

19A false witness [who] doth breathe out lies—And one sending forth contentions between brethren.

Warnings against Adultery

20Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.

21Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck.

22In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked—it talketh [with] thee.

23For a lamp [is] the command, And the law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,

24To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

25Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.

26For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.

27Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?

28Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?

29So [is] he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.

30They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,

31And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.

32He who committeth adultery [with] a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.

33A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away,

34For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.

35He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!