Proverbs 6:1-11 ▼

1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—

2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—

3 follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.

4 Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.

5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?

10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.