## Practical Warnings ###### 1 My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Have struck your hands _in pledge_ for a stranger, ###### 2 _If_ you have been snared with the words of your mouth, Have been caught with the words of your mouth, ###### 3 Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and badger your neighbor. ###### 4 Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids; ###### 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from _the hunter's_ hand And like a bird from the hand of the fowler. ###### 6 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, ###### 7 Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, ###### 8 Prepares her food in the summer _And_ gathers her provision in the harvest. ###### 9 How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? ###### 10 "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest"-- ###### 11 Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your want like an armed man. ###### 12 A vile person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, ###### 13 Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who points with his fingers; ###### 14 Who _with_ perversity in his heart continually devises evil, Who spreads contentions. ###### 15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing. ###### 16 There are six things which Yahweh hates, Even seven which are an abomination to Him: ###### 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, ###### 18 A heart that devises wicked thoughts, Feet that hasten to run to evil, ###### 19 A false witness _who_ breathes out lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. ## Warning Against Adultery ###### 20 My son, observe the commandment of your father And do not abandon the law of your mother; ###### 21 Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck. ###### 22 When you walk about, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep watch over you; And when you awake, they will speak to you. ###### 23 For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life ###### 24 To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman. ###### 25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids. ###### 26 For on account of a harlot _one is reduced_ to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life. ###### 27 Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? ###### 28 Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched? ###### 29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. ###### 30 _Men_ do not despise a thief if he steals To fill himself when he is hungry; ###### 31 But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold; He must give all the substance of his house. ###### 32 The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking a heart _of wisdom_; He who would destroy his soul does it. ###### 33 Wounds and disgrace he will find, And his reproach will not be blotted out. ###### 34 For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance. ###### 35 He will not accept any ransom, He will not be willing though you give many bribes.