1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another,
2if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!
4Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
8yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
9How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
11and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
12A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,
14who plots evil with deceit in his heart- he always stirs up dissension.
15Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy.
16There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
20My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
21Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck.
22When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
23For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,
24keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
25Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes,
26for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
28Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
29So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
33Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away;
34for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.