Aa
Parental Counsel
1My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,
Or have given a handshake for a stranger,
2 If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth,
Or caught by the words of your mouth,
3Then do this, my son, and save yourself:
Since you have come into the Lit palmhand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.
4Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
5Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6Go to the ant, you Lit idle onelazy one,
Observe its ways and be wise,
7Which, having no chief,
Officer, or ruler,
8Prepares its food in the summer
And gathers its provision in the harvest.
9How long will you lie down, you Lit idle onelazy one?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to Lit lie downrest,”
11Then your poverty will come in like a Lit one who moves aboutdrifter,
And your need like Lit a man with a shieldan armed man.
12A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,
13Who winks with his eyes, who Lit scrapessignals with his feet,
Who Lit instructs withpoints with his fingers;
14Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil,
Who Lit sends outspreads strife.
15Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
16There are six things that the Lord hates,
Seven that are an abomination Lit of His soulto Him:
17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19A false witness who declares lies,
And one who Lit sends outspreads strife among brothers.
20My son, comply with the commandment of your father,
And do not ignore the Or lawteaching of your mother;
21Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
22When you walk, Lit shethey will guide you;
When you sleep, Lit shethey will watch over you;
And when you awake, Lit shethey will talk to you.
23For the commandment is a lamp and the Or lawteaching is light;
And rebukes for discipline are the way of life
24To keep you from the evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.
25Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
26For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread,
And Lit a man’s wifean adulteress hunts for a precious life.
27Can anyone take fire in his lap
And his clothes not be burned?
28Or can a person walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?
29So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her will not Lit be innocentgo unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
To satisfy Lit his soulhimself when he is hungry;
31But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much;
He must give up all the property of his house.
32One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking Lit heartsense;
He who would destroy Lit his soulhimself commits it.
33He will find wounds and disgrace,
And his shame will not be removed.
34For jealousy Lit is the rage ofenrages a man,
And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.
35He will not Lit lift up the face of anyaccept any settlement,
Nor will he be Lit willingsatisfied though you make it a large gift.