Proverbs 6

₁My child, be careful and

don't promise to pay the debt

of your friend or a stranger.

₂If you do that, your own words

will catch you and you will have

big problems because of what you have said.

₃My child, if you have done that,

then that person can control you and

you must save yourself.

Go to him and beg him

to free you from your promise.

₄Don't go to sleep or rest your eyes.

₅You must save yourself like a deer

when a hunter wants to kill him.

Fly away like a bird from a trap.

₆Lazy man, go to the ants

and look how they work and learn from them.

₇Ants don't have a leader

or a supervisor or a king,

₈but they store their food in the summer

and they get food for themselves

when there is a lot of food.

₉Lazy man, how long do you want to sleep?

When will you get up?

₁₀You always say:

‘I just want to sleep a little more.

I just want to close my eyes for a short while.

I just want to fold my hands and sit still.’

₁₁But you will become poor

like someone who just walks around

and does not work.

You will become hungry like a beggar,

or like someone who has been robbed.

₁₂A sinful person is a fool

who always wants to deceive people.

₁₃He cheats other people

when he tells them things with his eyes

and makes signs with his fingers and feet

so that other people can not see

what he wants to say.

₁₄He always thinks of how

he can deceive people

and he makes people argue with each other.

₁₅That is why he will suddenly

be in big trouble.

He will be hurt badly

and no one will help him.

₁₆There are 6 things that the Lord does not like,

and there are 7 things that He hates.

₁₇It is when people are proud,

when they tell lies,

when they kill people,

₁₈when they make plans

to do wrong to other people,

when they are in a hurry to do wrong,

₁₉when they are witnesses who are telling lies

and when they make someone

argue with his brother.

₂₀My child, you must remember

what your father tells you,

and don't forget what your mother teaches you.

₂₁You must never forget it but remember it every day,

₂₂and then you will know how to live

and what to do every day and every night.

₂₃Because the things

that your father teaches you

are like a lamp, and the things

that your mother tells you

are like a light.

They teach you because

they want you to have true_life.

₂₄They want to protect you

from the sinful women,

and from the dangerous words of the women

who are unfaithful wives.

₂₅Don't desire those beautiful women,

and don't let them catch you with their eyes.

₂₆If you sleep with a prostitute,

you can pay her with a loaf of bread,

but the wife of another man

is like a hunter, so be careful.

You could lose everything

that is precious to you,

or you could lose your life.

₂₇If someone puts coals of fire

in his clothes, his clothes will burn,

₂₈or when he walks on hot coals,

his feet will burn.

₂₉That is what will happen to someone

who has sex with the wife of another man.

Any man who sleeps with her

must know that he will be punished.

₃₀People don't hate a thief

when he steals because he is hungry.

₃₁But if they catch him,

he must pay back 7 times more,

and he will have to give everything that is in his house.

₃₂A man who commits_adultery is a fool.

He is mad and he will destroy himself.

₃₃They will beat him and humiliate him

and he will always be ashamed.

₃₄Because the husband

of that woman will become very angry,

and he will be like a burning fire.

If he finds that man who slept with his wife,

he will punish him and he

will not feel sorry for him.

₃₅Even if you want to pay him

to forgive you,

he will not take your money

or anything that you want to give him.