Proverbs 6:1-11

Practical Warnings

1 My son, if you have put up 1security for your neighbor, have 2given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are 3snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten,[a] and 4plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 5Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[b] 6like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 7Go to 8the ant, O 9sluggard; consider her ways, and 10be wise.
7 11Without having any chief, 12officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread 13in summer and 14gathers her food in harvest.
9 15How long will you lie there, 16O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
10 17A little sleep, a little slumber, 18a little 19folding of the hands to rest,
11 20and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Cross References 20

Footnotes 2

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.