1My son, if you become [a]surety for your friend,
If you have [b]shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
3So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
4Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the [c]fowler.

6Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
7Which, having no [d]captain,
Overseer or ruler,
8Provides her [e]supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
9How long will you [f]slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.

12A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
13He winks with his eyes,
He [g]shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
14Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
15Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

20My son, keep your father’s command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
21Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
22When you roam, [j]they will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
23For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
24To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
25Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
26For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And [k]an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
27Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
28Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared?
29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.