English Standard Version | NET Bible |
1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, | 1My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, and have become a guarantor for a stranger, |
2if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, | 2if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered, and have been caught by the words you have spoken, |
3then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. | 3then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor's power: go, humble yourself, and appeal firmly to your neighbor. |
4Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; | 4Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. |
5save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. | 5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, and like a bird from the trap of the fowler. |
6Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. | 6Go to the ant, you sluggard; observe its ways and be wise! |
7Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, | 7It has no commander, overseer, or ruler, |
8she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. | 8yet it prepares its food in the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. |
9How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? | 9How long, you sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? |
10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, | 10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, |
11and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. | 11and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man. |
12A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, | 12A worthless and wicked person walks around saying perverse things; |
13winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, | 13he winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, and points with his fingers; |
14with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; | 14he plots evil with perverse thoughts in his heart, he spreads contention at all times. |
15therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. | 15Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly; in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy. |
16There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: | 16There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: |
17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, | 17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, |
18a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, | 18a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, |
19a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. | 19a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members. |
20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. | 20My child, guard the commands of your father and do not forsake the instruction of your mother. |
21Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. | 21Bind them on your heart continually; fasten them around your neck. |
22When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. | 22When you walk about, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you. |
23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, | 23For the commandments are like a lamp, instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life, |
24to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. | 24by keeping you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the loose woman. |
25Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; | 25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty, and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; |
26for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. | 26for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life. |
27Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? | 27Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes? |
28Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? | 28Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? |
29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished. | 29So it is with the one who has sex with his neighbor's wife; no one who touches her will escape punishment. |
30People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, | 30People do not despise a thief when he steals to fulfill his need when he is hungry. |
31but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house. | 31Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over, he might even have to give all the wealth of his house. |
32He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. | 32A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life. |
33He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. | 33He will be beaten and despised, and his reproach will not be wiped away; |
34For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. | 34for jealousy kindles a husband's rage, and he will not show mercy when he takes revenge. |
35He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts. | 35He will not consider any compensation; he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation. |
|