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[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!
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