6 My child, if you offer something as a guarantee for your neigbour’s loan,

≈or you’ve shaken hands on a deal with a stranger,

2 then you’ve become trapped by your own lips—

≈you’ve been caught by the words out of your own mouth.

3 In that case, my child, go and rescue yourself:

Since you’ve fallen into your neighbour’s control,

go and humbly appeal to your neighbour to release you from that pledge.

4 Don’t say that you’ll just sleep on it.

≈Don’t think that you’ll just have a nap first.

5 Save yourself immediately like a deer when it’s snagged,

≈or a bird fleeing from a trapper.

6 You lazy person, go and watch an ant.

→Think about its behaviour, and be wise.

7 It doesn’t even have a commander,

≈or overseer or ruler.

8 It prepares its food in the summer.

≈It stores up its supplies in the harvest season.

9 How much longer will you lie there, lazy person?

≈When will you get up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a quick nap,

≈a little folding of your arms to rest,

11 and poverty will sneak in like a robber,

≈and need will threaten like an armed man.

12 The wicked and worthless man

walks around with a crooked mouth,

13 winking with his eyes,

shuffling his feet along,

and pointing with his fingers.

14 People like that think perversely—

always devising evil plans

and spreading dissension.

15 Because of that, disaster will come suddenly—

they’ll be instantly broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that Yahweh hates,

actually seven that he finds detestable.

17 ₁ arrogant eyes,

₂ a lying tongue,

₃ hands that shed innocent blood,

18 ₄ a mind that devises wicked plans,

₅ feet that rush off to do something evil,

19 ₆ a dishonest witness that breathes out lies, and

₇ a person that stirs up conflict within the family.

20 My child, follow your father’s commands,

≈and don’t abandon what your mother taught you.

21 Lock them into your mind.

≈Tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk around, what you learnt will guide you.

When you lie down, it will preserve you.

When you wake up, it’ll speak to your mind,

23 because rules are like a lamp and teaching like a light.

Rebuke and discipline are the pathway to life

24 by keeping your from the evil woman—

from the smooth tongue of a foreign woman.

25 Don’t lust in your mind for her beauty,

and don’t let her capture you with her eyelashes,

26 because the price of a prostitute might be as cheap as a loaf of bread,

but another man’s wife might cost you your precious life.

27 Can anyone carry fire against their chest,

without their clothes catching fire.

28 If a person walks on coals,

won’t they get their feet burnt?

29 It’s like that for anyone sleeping with his neighbour’s wife,

No one will go unpunished for doing that.

30 They might not despite a thief

if they’re stealing to satisfy their hunger,

31 yet even the thief has to pay back seven times as much if they’re caught—

they might lose everything in their house.

32 Anyone who commits adultery lacks judgement—

they end up destroying their own life.

33 They’ll discover pain and dishonour,

and their shame will never be wiped away,

34 because jealousy arouses rage in an offended person

who won’t show any compassion when it’s time to avenge.

35 You won’t just be able to pay them off,

even if you try to increase the amount.