| 1 | My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand, |
| 2 | Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth, |
| 3 | Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend, |
| 4 | Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids, |
| 5 | Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler. |
| 6 | Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise; |
| 7 | Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler, |
| 8 | She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food. |
| 9 | Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep? |
| 10 | A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest, |
| 11 | And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man. |
| 12 | A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth, |
| 13 | Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers, |
| 14 | Frowardness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth. |
| 15 | Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken—and no healing. |
| 16 | These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven [are] abominations to His soul. |
| 17 | Eyes high—tongues false— And hands shedding innocent blood -- |
| 18 | A heart devising thoughts of vanity— Feet hasting to run to evil -- |
| 19 | A false witness [who] doth breathe out lies— And one sending forth contentions between brethren. |
| 20 | Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother. |
| 21 | Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck. |
| 22 | In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked—it talketh [with] thee. |
| 23 | For a lamp [is] the command, And the law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction, |
| 24 | To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. |
| 25 | Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids. |
| 26 | For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth. |
| 27 | Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt? |
| 28 | Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched? |
| 29 | So [is] he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent. |
| 30 | They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry, |
| 31 | And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth. |
| 32 | He who committeth adultery [with] a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it. |
| 33 | A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away, |
| 34 | For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance. |
| 35 | He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes! |