Proverbs 6:9-19

9 ¹How long will you lie there, ²O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

10 ³A little sleep, a little slumber, ⁴a little ⁵folding of the hands to rest,

11 ⁶and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

12 ⁷A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with ⁸crooked speech,

13 ⁹winks with his eyes, signals^[a] with his feet, points with his finger,

14 with ¹⁰perverted heart ¹¹devises evil, continually ¹²sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; ¹³in a moment he will be broken ¹⁴beyond healing.

16 There are ¹⁵six things that the LORD hates, ¹⁶seven that are an abomination to him:

17 ¹⁷haughty eyes, ¹⁸a lying tongue, and ¹⁹hands that shed innocent blood,

18 ²⁰a heart that devises wicked plans, ²¹feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 ²²a false witness who ²³breathes out lies, and one who ²⁴sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 6:9-19 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

• 1. [Jonah 1:6]
• 2. [See ver. 6 above]
• 3. Proverbs 24:33
• 4. Ecclesiastes 4:5
• 5. Proverbs 24:33
• 6. Proverbs 24:34
• 7. Proverbs 16:27
• 8. Proverbs 4:24
• 9. Proverbs 10:10; Psalms 35:19
• 10. See Proverbs 2:12
• 11. [Micah 2:1]; See Proverbs 3:29
• 12. [Proverbs 16:28]
• 13. Isaiah 30:13, 14; Jeremiah 19:11
• 14. Proverbs 29:1; 2 Chronicles 36:16
• 15. See Job 5:19
• 16. See Job 5:19
• 17. [Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 21:4]; See Psalms 101:5
• 18. Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 17:7; Psalms 31:18; Psalms 120:2
• 19. Deuteronomy 19:10; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:3, 7
• 20. Genesis 6:5
• 21. See Proverbs 1:16
• 22. See Psalms 27:12
• 23. Proverbs 12:17; Proverbs 14:5, 25; Proverbs 19:5, 9
• 24. [See ver. 14 above]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew scrapes