Proverbs 6:1-11 ▼

1 My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

2 you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

7 which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

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

9 How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

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

11 so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.