New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
1
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—
2
you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.
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.
3
So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.
4
Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.
5
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!
6
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,
7
It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
8
yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?
9
How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
10
A little sleep, a little 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.
11
and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
12 What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars,
12
A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
13
who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,
14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.
14
who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict.
15 But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
15
Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests:
16
There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,
17
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.
19
a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.