Warning against suretyship
1
My son, if you provide a guarantee for a neighbor who takes out a loan, or if you give the promise that you will pay for a loan of a person you do not know,
2
you laid a trap for yourself by making the promise, and you have been caught by agreeing to a contract for someone you did not know.
3
Do this, my son, and deliver yourself from this difficulty: humbly go to your neighbor and beg him to cancel the agreement that you made.
4
Do not sleep, and do not rest until you go and talk with him.
5
Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from the hunter; or like a bird that flies away from the hand of one who hunts for birds.
Warning against laziness
6
You lazy person, learn something from watching the ants. Become wise and watch what they do.
7
The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler telling him what to do,
8
but during the summer it works hard, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
9
But you lazy person, how long will you continue to sleep? When will you rise and go to work?
10
You sleep for a little time, and then you say, “A little more sleep, a little more resting in bed, a little more folding of the hands to take a nap.”
11
Suddenly poverty will take over your life like a thief who steals everything from you.
Warning against falsehood
12
A worthless person , a person who does bad to others, he lives by the lies he speaks to others.
13
They tell tales by winking their eyes and they give signals by moving their feet, and they make plans by pointing with their fingers.
14
The one who does bad things lays out plans within himself; he stirs up constant conflict wherever he goes.
15
His own disaster will overtake him in a second; he will be crushed to the point that he cannot be healed.
Prevention of seven sins
16
There are six, even seven, things that Yahweh hates.
17
Yahweh hates the eyes of the proud, the tongue that tells lies, the hands that shed the blood of the innocent,
18
a heart that plots and makes plans to do evil things to others,
19
the witness who breathes out lies when he gives testimony, and the one who causes strife between members of the same family.
Prevention against adultery
20
My son, obey the command of your father, and do not walk away from what your mother taught you.
21
Keep these lessons and tie them close inside as a part of yourself; tie them around your neck, to remind you how important they are to you.
22
When you walk, those lessons will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you and protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will teach you.
23
These commands are like a lamp for you, and what we teach you is like a light to guide you. When people correct you, this is to continually teach you the right way to live.
24
These lessons keep you from the immoral woman, they tell you about her enticing words and warn you to be on guard.
25
Do not throw your desires after such a woman, nor should you desire her beauty; do not let her capture you by the way she looks at you.
26
Sleeping with a prostitute may cost you only the price of a loaf of bread, but if you sleep with another man’s wife, it may cost you your life.
27
Can you carry hot coals in your pockets and not be burned?
28
Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch your feet?
29
So is anyone who sleeps with another man’s wife, he will suffer for doing that. It is certain he will be severely punished.
30
We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
31
But if he steals something and then is caught by others, he will have to pay back seven times as much as he stole, even if he must sell everything that is in his house to get enough money to repay what he stole.
32
But a man who commits adultery has no good judgment because he is destroying his own self.
33
Wounds and shame will come to him; he will never forget how others disgraced him for his deed.
34
Because that woman’s husband will be jealous, he will become furious, and when he gets revenge, he will not act mercifully toward that man.
35
And he will not accept any bribe to stop him.
Copyright © Door43 - licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0