Proverbs 6:1-9:18

⁶ Go to the ant, O sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,
⁷ Which, having no chief,
Officer or ruler,
⁸ Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.
⁹ How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰ “A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest”—
¹¹ Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
¹³ Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
¹⁴ Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.
¹⁵ Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

¹⁶ There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
¹⁹ A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.

²⁰ My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
²¹ Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
²² When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
²³ For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
And reproofs for discipline are the way of life
²⁴ To keep you from the evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
²⁵ Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
²⁶ For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,
And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.
²⁷ Can a man take fire in his bosom
And his clothes not be burned?
²⁸ Or can a man walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?
²⁹ So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.
³⁰ Men do not despise a thief if he steals
To satisfy himself when he is hungry;
³¹ But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;
He must give all the ^]substance of his house.
³² The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense;
He who would destroy himself does it.
³³ Wounds and disgrace he will find,
And his reproach will not be blotted out.
³⁴ For jealousy enrages a man,
And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
³⁵ He will not accept any ransom,
Nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.

⁶ For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
⁷ And I saw among the naive,
And discerned among the youths
A young man lacking sense,
⁸ Passing through the street near her corner;
And he takes the way to her house,
⁹ In the twilight, in the evening,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
¹⁰ And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
¹¹ She is boisterous and rebellious,
Her feet do not remain at home;
¹² She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
And lurks by every corner.
¹³ So she seizes him and kisses him
And with a brazen face she says to him:
¹⁴ “I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
¹⁵ “Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
¹⁶ “I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
¹⁷ “I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
¹⁸ “Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.
¹⁹ “For my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a long journey;
²⁰ He has taken a bag of money with him,
At the full moon he will come home.”
²¹ With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her flattering lips she seduces him.
²² Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
²³ Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴ Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
²⁵ Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
²⁶ For many are the victims she has cast down,
And numerous are all her slain.
²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.

¹² “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
¹³ “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
¹⁴ “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
¹⁵ “By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
¹⁶ “By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
¹⁷ “I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
¹⁸ “Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
¹⁹ “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
²⁰ “I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
²¹ To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.

²² “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
²³ “From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
²⁴ “When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ “Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
²⁶ While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
²⁷ “When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
²⁹ When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
³⁰ Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
³¹ Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.

³² “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
³³ “Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
³⁴ “Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
³⁵ “For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
³⁶ “But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.”

⁷ He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself,
And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself.
⁸ Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
⁹ Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
¹¹ For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
¹² If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³ The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
¹⁵ Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
¹⁶ “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
¹⁸ But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.