Proverbs 6:1-35 CEB

[1] My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor or shake hands in agreement with a stranger, [2] you will be trapped by your words; you will be caught by your words. [3] Do this, my son, to get out of it, for you have come under the control of your neighbor. So go, humble yourself, and pester your neighbor. [4] Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. [5] Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from the hand of a fowler. [6] Go to the ant, you lazy person; observe its ways and grow wise. [7] The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler. [8] Even so, it gets its food in summer; gathers its provisions at harvest. [9] How long, lazy person, will you lie down? When will you rise from your sleep? [10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to lie down— [11] and poverty will come on you like a prowler, destitution like a warrior. [12] Worthless people and guilty people go around with crooked talk. [13] They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet, and point with their fingers. [14] Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil; they create controversies all the time. [15] Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them; they will be quickly broken beyond healing. [16] There are six things that the LORD hates, seven things detestable to him: [17] snobbish eyes, a lying tongue, hands that spill innocent blood, [18] a heart set on wicked plans, feet that run quickly to evil, [19] a false witness who breathes lies, and one who causes conflicts among relatives. [20] My son, keep your father’s command; don’t abandon your mother’s instruction. [21] Bind them on your heart for all time; fasten them around your neck. [22] When you walk around, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will protect you; when you awake, they will occupy your attention. [23] The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light; corrective teaching is the path of life. [24] They guard you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman. [25] Don’t desire her beauty in secret; don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes, [26] for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life. [27] Can a man scoop fire into his lap and his clothes not get burned? [28] If a man walks on hot coals, don’t his feet get burned? [29] So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife; anyone who touches her will be punished. [30] People don’t despise a thief if he steals to fill his starving stomach. [31] But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give all the riches of his house. [32] He who commits adultery is senseless. Doing so, he destroys himself. [33] He is wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be wiped away. [34] Jealousy makes a man rage; he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge. [35] He won’t accept compensation; he’ll refuse even a large bribe.