| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger— | 1My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, and have become a guarantor for a stranger, |
| 2if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said— | 2if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered, and have been caught by the words you have spoken, |
| 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. | 3then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor's power: go, humble yourself, and appeal firmly to your neighbor. |
| 4Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. | 4Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. |
| 5Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net. | 5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, and like a bird from the trap of the fowler. |
| 6Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! | 6Go to the ant, you sluggard; observe its ways and be wise! |
| 7Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, | 7It has no commander, overseer, or ruler, |
| 8they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. | 8yet it prepares its food in the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. |
| 9But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? | 9How long, you sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? |
| 10A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— | 10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, |
| 11then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. | 11and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man. |
| 12What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, | 12A worthless and wicked person walks around saying perverse things; |
| 13signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. | 13he winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, and points with his fingers; |
| 14Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. | 14he plots evil with perverse thoughts in his heart, he spreads contention at all times. |
| 15But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. | 15Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly; in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy. |
| 16There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests: | 16There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: |
| 17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, | 17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, |
| 18a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, | 18a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, |
| 19a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. | 19a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members. |
| 20My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. | 20My child, guard the commands of your father and do not forsake the instruction of your mother. |
| 21Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. | 21Bind them on your heart continually; fasten them around your neck. |
| 22When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. | 22When you walk about, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you. |
| 23For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life. | 23For the commandments are like a lamp, instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life, |
| 24It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman. | 24by keeping you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the loose woman. |
| 25Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you. | 25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty, and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; |
| 26For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life. | 26for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life. |
| 27Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? | 27Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes? |
| 28Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? | 28Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? |
| 29So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished. | 29So it is with the one who has sex with his neighbor's wife; no one who touches her will escape punishment. |
| 30Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving. | 30People do not despise a thief when he steals to fulfill his need when he is hungry. |
| 31But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house. | 31Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over, he might even have to give all the wealth of his house. |
| 32But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself. | 32A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life. |
| 33He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased. | 33He will be beaten and despised, and his reproach will not be wiped away; |
| 34For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. | 34for jealousy kindles a husband's rage, and he will not show mercy when he takes revenge. |
| 35He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size. | 35He will not consider any compensation; he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation. |
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