Proverbs 6:1-16

1 My child, have you promised to be responsible for someone else's debts? 1
2 Have you been caught by your own words, trapped by your own promises?
3 Well then, my child, you are in that person's power, but this is how to get out of it: hurry to him, and beg him to release you.
4 Don't let yourself go to sleep or even stop to rest.
5 Get out of the trap like a bird or a deer escaping from a hunter.
6 Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live.
7 They have no leader, chief, or ruler,
8 but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter.
9 How long is the lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up?
10 "I'll just take a short nap," he says; "I'll fold my hands and rest a while." 2
11 But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber.
12 Worthless, wicked people go around telling lies.
13 They wink and make gestures to deceive you, 3
14 all the while planning evil in their perverted minds, stirring up trouble everywhere.
15 Because of this, disaster will strike them without warning, and they will be fatally wounded.
16 There are seven things that the Lord hates and cannot tolerate: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people, a mind that thinks up wicked plans, feet that hurry off to do evil, a witness who tells one lie after another, and someone who stirs up trouble among friends

Proverbs 6:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6

In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pr 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pr 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pr 6:3-5; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pr 6:6-8; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pr 6:9,10; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pr 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pr 6:11-15. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pr 6:16-19. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pr 6:20-23. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pr 6:24,25; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pr 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pr 6:27-29; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pr 6:30,31; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pr 6:32,33; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pr 6:34,35.

Cross References 3

  • 1. +26.1-5Ben Sira 29.14-20.
  • 2. 6.10, 11Proverbs 24.33, 34.
  • 3. +26.13, 14Ben Sira 27.22.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.