Proverbs 6:1-35 NIV

Proverbs 6:1-35 NIV [1] My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, [2] you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. [3] So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest! [4] Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. [5] Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. [6] Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! [7] It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, [8] yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. [9] How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? [10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— [11] and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. [12] A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, [13] who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, [14] who plots evil with deceit in his heart—he always stirs up conflict. [15] Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. [16] There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: [17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, [18] a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, [19] a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. [20] My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. [21] Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. [22] When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. [23] For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, [24] keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. [25] Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. [26] For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. [27] Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? [28] Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? [29] So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. [30] People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. [31] Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. [32] But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. [33] Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away. [34] For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. [35] He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

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