1: My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,
2: Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,
3: Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,
4: Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,
5: Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6: Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
7: Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,
8: She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.
9: Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep?
10: A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
11: And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.
12: A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
13: Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
14: Frowardness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.
15: Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken -- and no healing.
16: These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven [are] abominations to His soul.
17: Eyes high -- tongues false -- And hands shedding innocent blood --
18: A heart devising thoughts of vanity -- Feet hasting to run to evil --
19: A false witness [who] doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
20: Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.
21: Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck.
22: In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked -- it talketh [with] thee.
23: For a lamp [is] the command, And the law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
24: To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25: Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.
26: For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.
27: Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?
28: Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
29: So [is] he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.
30: They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,
31: And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.
32: He who committeth adultery [with] a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.
33: A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away,
34: For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.
35: He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!