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Proverbs 6 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Lessons for Daily Life
Pro 6:1My child,[fn] if you have put up security for a friend’s debt
or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
Pro 6:2if you have trapped yourself by your agreement
and are caught by what you said—
Pro 6:3follow 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.
Pro 6:4Don’t put it off; do it now!
Don’t rest until you do.
Pro 6:5Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter,
like a bird fleeing from a net.
Pro 6:6Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
Pro 6:7Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
Pro 6:8they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.
Pro 6:9But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
Pro 6:10A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
Pro 6:11then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
Pro 6:12What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
Pro 6:13signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
Pro 6:14Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
Pro 6:15But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
Pro 6:16There are six things the LORD hates—
no, seven things he detests:
Pro 6:17haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
Pro 6:18a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
Pro 6:19a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.
Pro 6:20My son, obey your father’s commands,
and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
Pro 6:21Keep their words always in your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
Pro 6:22When you walk, their counsel will lead you.
When you sleep, they will protect you.
When you wake up, they will advise you.
Pro 6:23For their command is a lamp
and their instruction a light;
their corrective discipline
is the way to life.
Pro 6:24It will keep you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
Pro 6:25Don’t lust for her beauty.
Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.
Pro 6:26For a prostitute will bring you to poverty,[fn]
but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
Pro 6:27Can a man scoop a flame into his lap
and not have his clothes catch on fire?
Pro 6:28Can he walk on hot coals
and not blister his feet?
Pro 6:29So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife.
He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
Pro 6:30Excuses might be found for a thief
who steals because he is starving.
Pro 6:31But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole,
even if he has to sell everything in his house.
Pro 6:32But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool,
for he destroys himself.
Pro 6:33He will be wounded and disgraced.
His shame will never be erased.
Pro 6:34For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
Pro 6:35He will accept no compensation,
nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew My son.
Hebrew to a loaf of bread.
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Proverbs Chapter 6 — Additional Translations: