Warnings against foolish behavior

6 My son, if someone has borrowed money from a friend or a stranger,

and if you have promised that you will pay the money back if that person is unable to pay back the money he borrowed,

2 you may be trapped by what you have agreed to do,

because if the one who borrowed the money is not able to pay it back, you will have to pay it.

What you have said that you will do will be like a snare to you.

3 So, my son, I will tell you what you should do to escape from your difficulty,

so that the moneylender does not get control over your wealth:

Humbly go to your friend and plead with him to cancel the agreement!

4 Do not wait until tomorrow; go immediately!

Do not rest until you go and talk with him.

5 Save yourself,

like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter

or like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.

6 You lazy individual, learn something from watching the ants.

Become wise from observing what they do.

7 They do not have a king or a governor or any other person who rules them and forces them to work,

8 but they work hard all during the summer,

gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.

9 But, you lazy loafer, how long will you continue to sleep [RHQ]?

Are you never going to get up from sleeping and go to work?

10 You sleep a for a little time; you say, “I will take just a short nap.”

You lie down and fold/lay your hands across your chest and rest;

11 and suddenly you will become poor.

It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.

12 I will describe for you what worthless and evil people are like.

They constantly lie;

13 by winking their eyes and moving their feet and making signs with their fingers,

they signal to their friends what they are intending/planning to do.

14 They plan to do evil things.

They constantly cause strife/trouble.

15 But disasters will hit them suddenly;

they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.

16 There are six, maybe seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. They are:

17 People who show by their eyes that they are very proud;

people who lie [MTY];

people [SYN] who kill others [SYN] who have done nothing wrong;

18 people who plan to do evil deeds;

people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;

19 people who easily tell lies in court;

and people who cause strife between family members.