| 1 | My son, if thou hast become surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand for a stranger, |
| 2 | thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. |
| 3 | Do 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. |
| 4 | Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids: |
| 5 | deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. |
| 6 | Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: |
| 7 | which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, |
| 8 | provideth her bread in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest. |
| 9 | How long, sluggard, wilt thou lie down? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? |
| 10 | A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest! |
| 11 | So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man. |
| 12 | A man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth; |
| 13 | he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; |
| 14 | deceits are in his heart; he deviseth mischief at all times, he soweth discords. |
| 15 | Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly: in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy. |
| 16 | These six [things] doth Jehovah hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him: |
| 17 | haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood; |
| 18 | a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; feet that are swift in running to mischief; |
| 19 | a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discords among brethren. |
| 20 | My son, observe thy father's commandment, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother; |
| 21 | bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck: |
| 22 | when thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and [when] thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. |
| 23 | For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: |
| 24 | to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. |
| 25 | Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids; |
| 26 | for 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. |
| 27 | Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned? |
| 28 | Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? |
| 29 | So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. |
| 30 | They do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry: |
| 31 | and if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. |
| 32 | Whoso committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. |
| 33 | A wound and contempt shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. |
| 34 | For jealousy is the rage of a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance; |
| 35 | he will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou multipliest [thy] gifts. |