Proverbs 6:1-11 ▼

1 MY son, if you have become surety for your friend, if you have obligated yourself to a stranger,

2 Then you are snared with the words of your mouth, you are caught with the words of your lips.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself because, for the sake of your friend, you have fallen into the hands of your enemies; go, therefore, and stir up your friend for whom you have become surety to meet his obligation.

4 You shall not give sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids.

5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the snare, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Be like the ant, consider her ways, and be wise;

7 Though having no harvest and no ruler over her, neither any one to guide her,

8 She provides her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands on the chest;

11 And then poverty shall come upon you, and distress shall overtake you; become a successful man.