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Chapter 6

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^{1 2} My son, if you have become surety to your neighbor, given your hand in pledge to another,

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You have been snared by the utterance of your lips, caught by the words of your mouth;

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So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's power: Go, hurry, stir up your neighbor!

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Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids;

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Free yourself as a gazelle from the snare, or as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

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Go to the ant, O sluggard, study her ways and learn wisdom;

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For though she has no chief, no commander or ruler,

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She procures her food in the summer, stores up her provisions in the harvest.

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How long, O sluggard, will you rest? when will you rise from your sleep?

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³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest - 

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Then will poverty come upon you like a highway man, and want like an armed man.

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A scoundrel, a villain, is he who deals in crooked talk.

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He winks his eyes, shuffles his feet, makes signs with his fingers;

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He has perversity in his heart, is always plotting evil, sows discord.

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Therefore suddenly ruin comes upon him; in an instant he is crushed beyond cure.

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⁴ There are six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him;

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Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood;

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A heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,

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The false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

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⁵ Observe, my son, your father's bidding, and reject not your mother's teaching;

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Keep them fastened over your heart always, put them around your neck;

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For the bidding is a lamp, and the teaching a light, and a way to life are the reproofs of discipline;

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To keep you from your neighbor's wife, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

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Lust not in your heart after her beauty, let her not captivate you with her glance!

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⁶ For the price of a loose woman may be scarcely a loaf of bread, But if she is married, she is a trap for your precious life.

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Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his garments not burned?

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Or can a man walk on live coals, and his feet not be scorched?

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So with him who goes in to his neighbor's wife -  none who touches her shall go unpunished.

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Men despise not the thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry;

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Yet if he be caught he must pay back sevenfold; all the wealth of his house he may yield up.

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But he who commits adultery is a fool; he who would destroy himself does it.

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A degrading beating will he get, and his disgrace will not be wiped away;

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For vindictive is the husband's wrath, he will have no pity on the day of vengeance;

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He will not consider any restitution, nor be satisfied with the greatest gifts.