¹ My son,
if thou be surety for thy friend,
if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
² Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,
thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
³ Do this now, my son,
and deliver thyself,
when thou art come into the hand of thy friend;
go, humble thyself,
and make sure thy friend.
⁴ Give not sleep to thine eyes,
nor slumber to thine eyelids.
⁵ Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter,
and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
⁶ Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
consider her ways,
and be wise:
⁷ Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
⁸ Provideth her meat in the summer,
and gathereth her food in the harvest.
⁹ How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
¹⁰ Yet a little sleep,
a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep:
¹¹ So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,
and thy want as an armed man.

¹² A naughty person,
a wicked man,
walketh with a froward mouth.
¹³ He winketh with his eyes,
he speaketh with his feet,
he teacheth with his fingers;
¹⁴ Frowardness is in his heart,
he deviseth mischief continually [at all times];
he soweth discord.
¹⁵ Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly;
suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

¹⁶ These six things doth the LORD hate:
yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
¹⁷ A proud look,
a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
¹⁹ A false witness that speaketh lies,
and he that soweth discord among brethren.

²⁰ My son,
keep thy father's commandment,
and forsake not the law of thy mother:
²¹ Bind them continually upon thine heart,
and tie them about thy neck.
²² When thou goest,
it shall lead thee;
when thou sleepest,
it shall keep thee [it shall guard over you];
and when thou awakest,
it shall talk with thee.
²³ For the commandment is a lamp;
and the law is light;
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
²⁴ To keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
²⁵ Lust not after her beauty in thine heart;
neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
²⁶ For by means of a whorish woman
a man is brought to a piece of bread:
and the adulteress [a wife of a man]
will hunt for the precious life.
²⁷ Can a man take fire in his bosom,
and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸ Can one go upon hot coals,
and his feet not be burned?
²⁹ So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife;
whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
³⁰ Men do not despise a thief,
if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
³¹ But if he be found,
he shall restore sevenfold;
he shall give all the substance of his house.
³² But whoso committeth adultery with a woman
lacketh understanding:
he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
³³ A wound and dishonour shall he get;
and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
³⁴ For jealousy is the rage of a man:
therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
³⁵ He will not regard [lift up his face toward] any ransom;
neither will he rest content,
though thou givest many gifts.