Proverbs 6

1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—

2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—

3 follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.

4 Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.

5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?

10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

12 What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars,

13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.

14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.

15 But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.

16 There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,

18 a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,

19 a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

20 My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

21 Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you.

23 For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.

24 It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.

25 Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.

26 For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

27 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?

28 Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?

29 So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

30 Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.

31 But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.

32 But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.

33 He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased.

34 For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

35 He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.

Proverbs 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

Cautions against rash suretiship. (1-5) A rebuke to slothfulness. (6-11) Seven things hateful to God. (12-19) Exhortations to walk according to God's commandments. (20-35)

Verses 1-5 If we live as directed by the word of God, we shall find it profitable even in this present world. We are stewards of our worldly substance, and have to answer to the Lord for our disposal of it; to waste it in rash schemes, or such plans as may entangle us in difficulties and temptations, is wrong. A man ought never to be surety for more than he is able and willing to pay, and can afford to pay, without wronging his family; he ought to look upon every sum he is engaged for, as his own debt. If we must take all this care to get our debts to men forgiven, much more to obtain forgiveness with God. Humble thyself to him, make sure of Christ as thy Friend, to plead for thee; pray earnestly that thy sins may be pardoned, and that thou mayest be kept from going down to the pit.

Verses 6-11 Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others, or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothful men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus life runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, gradually draws near, like a traveller; and when it arrives, is like an armed man, too strong to be resisted. All this may be applied to the concerns of our souls. How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness! Shall we not seek to awaken such? Shall we not give diligence to secure our own salvation?

Verses 12-19 If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does every thing artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.

Verses 20-35 The word of God has something to say to us upon all occasions. Let not faithful reproofs ever make us uneasy. When we consider how much this sin abounds, how heinous adultery is in its own nature, of what evil consequence it is, and how certainly it destroys the spiritual life in the soul, we shall not wonder that the cautions against it are so often repeated. Let us notice the subjects of this chapter. Let us remember Him who willingly became our Surety, when we were strangers and enemies. And shall Christians, who have such prospects, motives, and examples, be slothful and careless? Shall we neglect what is pleasing to God, and what he will graciously reward? May we closely watch every sense by which poison can enter our minds or affections.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew My son.
• [b]. Hebrew to a loaf of bread.

Chapter Summary

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.