Proverbs 6 Today's Daily Bread

Lessons for Daily Life

1My child, F12 if you co-sign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of someone you hardly know—2if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—3quick, get out of it if you possibly can! You have placed yourself at your friend's mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. 4Don't put it off. Do it now! Don't rest until you do. 5Save yourself like a deer escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

6Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! 7Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, 8they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 9But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: 10A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—11and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

12Here is a description of worthless and wicked people: They are constant liars, 13signaling their true intentions to their friends by making signs with their eyes and feet and fingers. 14Their perverted hearts plot evil. They stir up trouble constantly. 15But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken beyond all hope of healing.

16There are six things the LORD hates—no, seven things he detests:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,

18 a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,

19 a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord among brothers.

20My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's teaching. 21Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. 22Wherever you walk, their counsel can lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will advise you. 23For these commands and this teaching are a lamp to light the way ahead of you. The correction of discipline is the way to life.

24These commands and this teaching will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of an adulterous woman. 25Don't lust for her beauty. Don't let her coyness seduce you. 26For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, and sleeping with another man's wife may cost you your very life. 27Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned? 28Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? 29So it is with the man who sleeps with another man's wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

30Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving. 31But if he is caught, he will be fined seven times as much as he stole, even if it means selling everything in his house to pay it back.

32But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul. 33Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot. His shame will never be erased. 34For the woman's husband will be furious in his jealousy, and he will have no mercy in his day of vengeance. 35There is no compensation or bribe that will satisfy him.
FOOTNOTES:
F12: Hebrew My son.