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if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 if you have been trapped by the words from your lips,
and ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and free yourself,
since you have placed yourself in your neighbour’s hands:
Go, humble yourself;
plead with your neighbour.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise.
7 Without a commander,
overseer, or ruler,
8 it prepares its provisions in summer
and gathers its food during harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and your poverty will come on you like a robber,
and want, like a armed man.
12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
who goes around with a crooked mouth,
13 who winks with his eyes,
signals with his feet,
and gestures with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with perversity in his heart—
he constantly stirs up trouble.
15 Therefore calamity will suddenly overcome him;
in a moment he will be shattered—without remedy.
16 There are six things the Lord hates;
yes, 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 swift in running to evil,
19a false witness who pours out lies,
and the man who sows discord among brothers.
20 My son, keep your father’s commands
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will speak to you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp
and the teaching is a light,
and the reproofs of correction
are the way to life.
24 They will protect you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes,
26 for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,
but the adulteress hunts down your very life.
27 Can a man carry fire in the fold of his garment
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So it is with the one who goes into his neighbour’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must restore sevenfold;
he must give up all the wealth in his house.
32 But the man who commits adultery lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 He will blows and dishonour,
and his disgrace will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses the rage of a man,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation,
nor will he accept the bribe, no matter how great.