New Living Translation
Proverbs • Chapter 6
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My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt<br>or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger —<br>
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if you have trapped yourself by your agreement<br>and are caught by what you said —<br>
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follow my advice and save yourself,<br>for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy.<br>Now swallow your pride;<br>go and beg to have your name erased.<br>
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Don’t put it off; do it now!<br>Don’t rest until you do.<br>
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Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter,<br>like a bird fleeing from a net.<br>
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Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.<br>Learn from their ways and become wise!<br>
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Though they have no prince<br>or governor or ruler to make them work,<br>
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they labor hard all summer,<br>gathering food for the winter.<br>
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But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?<br>When will you wake up?<br>
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A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,<br>a little folding of the hands to rest —<br>
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then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;<br>scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.<br>
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What are worthless and wicked people like?<br>They are constant liars,<br>
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signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,<br>a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.<br>
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Their perverted hearts plot evil,<br>and they constantly stir up trouble.<br>
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But they will be destroyed suddenly,<br>broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.<br>
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There are six things the LORD hates —<br>no, seven things he detests:<br>
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haughty eyes,<br>a lying tongue,<br>hands that kill the innocent,<br>
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a heart that plots evil,<br>feet that race to do wrong,<br>
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a false witness who pours out lies,<br>a person who sows discord in a family.<br>
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My son, obey your father’s commands,<br>and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.<br>
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Keep their words always in your heart.<br>Tie them around your neck.<br>
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When you walk, their counsel will lead you.<br>When you sleep, they will protect you.<br>When you wake up, they will advise you.<br>
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For their command is a lamp<br>and their instruction a light;<br>their corrective discipline<br>is the way to life.<br>
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It will keep you from the immoral woman,<br>from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.<br>
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Don’t lust for her beauty.<br>Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.<br>
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For a prostitute will bring you to poverty,<br>but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.<br>
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Can a man scoop a flame into his lap<br>and not have his clothes catch on fire?<br>
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Can he walk on hot coals<br>and not blister his feet?<br>
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So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife.<br>He who embraces her will not go unpunished.<br>
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Excuses might be found for a thief<br>who steals because he is starving.<br>
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But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole,<br>even if he has to sell everything in his house.<br>
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But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool,<br>for he destroys himself.<br>
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He will be wounded and disgraced.<br>His shame will never be erased.<br>
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For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious,<br>and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.<br>
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He will accept no compensation,<br>nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.<br>