Proverbs 6:9-19

9 How long will you lie there, you lazy bum? When will you get up from your sleep?

10 "Just a little sleep, just a little slumber, just a little nap."

11 Then your poverty will come [to you] like a drifter, and your need will come [to you] like a bandit.

12 A good-for-nothing scoundrel is a person who has a dishonest mouth.

13 He winks his eye, makes a signal with his foot, [and] points with his fingers.

14 He devises evil all the time with a twisted mind. He spreads conflict.

15 That is why disaster will come on him suddenly. In a moment he will be crushed beyond recovery.

16 There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven that are disgusting to him:

17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people,

18 a mind devising wicked plans, feet that are quick to do wrong,

19 a dishonest witness spitting out lies, and a person who spreads conflict among relatives.

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.