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

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

3Do 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12A fool, a wicked man, is unscrupulous.

13He winks with his eyes, he signals with his feet, he makes signs with his fingers;

14He is perverse in his heart, he devises mischief continually; he sows discord.

15Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly will he be broken without remedy.

16There are six things which the LORD hates; yea, the seventh is an abomination to him:

17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.

18A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19A false witness who speaks lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

20My son, keep your father's commandment and do not forsake the law of your mother;

21Impress them firmly on your heart and tie them about your neck.

22When you walk, let them follow you; let them be with you, keep them that they may keep you; and when you awake, meditate on them.

23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and the reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

24To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

25Do not lust after her beauty in your heart; neither let her snare you with her eyes, nor let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26For the appearance of a harlot is tempting like a loaf of bread; and the adulteress hunts for the precious life.

27Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

28Can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

29So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife and touches her; he shall not be innocent.

30No one wonders at a thief when he is caught stealing, for he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry;

31But if he is caught, he shall pay sevenfold; he shall give all the goods of his house.

32But he who commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding, and he destroys his own soul.

33And he who does it brings dishonor upon himself; and his reproach shall not be wiped out.

34For jealousy provokes a man's rage; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35He will not regard any ransom; nor will he listen, though you increase the bribe.