Warnings against Foolishness

1My son, if thou hast become surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand for a stranger,

2thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

3Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, since thou hast come into the hand of thy friend: go, humble thyself, and be urgent with thy friend.

4Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids:

5deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise:

7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

8provideth her bread in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest.

9How long, sluggard, wilt thou lie down? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

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

11So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man.

12A man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth;

13he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

14deceits are in his heart; he deviseth mischief at all times, he soweth discords.

15Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly: in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy.

16These six [things] doth Jehovah hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

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

18a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; feet that are swift in running to mischief;

19a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discords among brethren.

Warnings against Adultery

20My son, observe thy father's commandment, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

21bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck:

22when thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and [when] thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

23For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

24to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

25Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids;

26for by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a loaf of bread, and another's wife doth hunt for the precious soul.

27Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned?

28Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

29So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

30They do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry:

31and if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

32Whoso committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

33A wound and contempt shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

34For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance;

35he will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou multipliest [thy] gifts.