Proverbs 6 :: New International Version (NIV)

Warnings Against Folly

Pro 6:1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

Pro 6:2you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.

Pro 6:3So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion—[fn] and give your neighbor no rest!

Pro 6:4

Pro 6:4Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.

Pro 6:5

Pro 6:5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Pro 6:6

Pro 6:6Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

Pro 6:7

Pro 6:7It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

Pro 6:8

Pro 6:8yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Pro 6:9

Pro 6:9How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

Pro 6:10

Pro 6:10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

Pro 6:11

Pro 6:11and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Pro 6:12

Pro 6:12A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

Pro 6:13

Pro 6:13who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,

Pro 6:14

Pro 6:14who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict.

Pro 6:15

Pro 6:15Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

Pro 6:16

Pro 6:16There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

Pro 6:17

Pro 6:17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

Pro 6:18

Pro 6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

Pro 6:19

Pro 6:19a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Warning Against Adultery

Pro 6:20

Pro 6:20My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

Pro 6:21

Pro 6:21Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.

Pro 6:22

Pro 6:22When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

Pro 6:23

Pro 6:23For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,

Pro 6:24

Pro 6:24keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.

Pro 6:25

Pro 6:25Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

Pro 6:26

Pro 6:26For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

Pro 6:27

Pro 6:27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

Pro 6:28

Pro 6:28Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

Pro 6:29

Pro 6:29So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

Pro 6:30

Pro 6:30People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

Pro 6:31

Pro 6:31Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

Pro 6:32

Pro 6:32But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

Pro 6:33

Pro 6:33Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.

Pro 6:34

Pro 6:34For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

Pro 6:35

Pro 6:35He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(6:3)

Or Go and humble yourself,

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