New International Version | New Living Translation |
1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, | 1My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger— |
2you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. | 2if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said— |
3So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go--to the point of exhaustion-- and give your neighbor no rest! | 3follow 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. |
4Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. | 4Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. |
5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. | 5Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net. |
6Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! | 6Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! |
7It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, | 7Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, |
8yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. | 8they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. |
9How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? | 9But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? |
10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- | 10A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— |
11and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. | 11then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. |
12A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, | 12What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, |
13who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, | 13signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. |
14who plots evil with deceit in his heart-- he always stirs up conflict. | 14Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. |
15Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy. | 15But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. |
16There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: | 16There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests: |
17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, | 17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, |
18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, | 18a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, |
19a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. | 19a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. |
20My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake your mother's teaching. | 20My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. |
21Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. | 21Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. |
22When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. | 22When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. |
23For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, | 23For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life. |
24keeping you from your neighbor's wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. | 24It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman. |
25Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. | 25Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you. |
26For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man's wife preys on your very life. | 26For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life. |
27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? | 27Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? |
28Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? | 28Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? |
29So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. | 29So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished. |
30People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. | 30Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving. |
31Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. | 31But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house. |
32But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. | 32But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself. |
33Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away. | 33He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased. |
34For jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. | 34For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. |
35He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is. | 35He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size. |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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