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