Chapter 6

My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider,

then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words.

Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend.

Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber.

Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom.

For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader,

she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat.

How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep?

You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep,

and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you.

An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth;

he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger.

With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict.

To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy.

Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil,

a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother.

Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat.

When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them.

For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.

So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider.

Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks.

For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man.

Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn?

Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned?

So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her.

Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul.

Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house.

But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul.

He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication,

nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts.