Proverbs 6:1-19

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] 6}like 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.

12 ²¹A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with ²²crooked speech,

13 ²³winks with his eyes, signals^[c] with his feet, points with his finger,

14 with ²⁴perverted heart ²⁵devises evil, continually ²⁶sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; ²⁷in a moment he will be broken ²⁸beyond healing.

16 There are ²⁹six things that the Lord hates, ³⁰seven that are an abomination to him:

17 ³¹haughty eyes, ³²a lying tongue, and ³³hands that shed innocent blood,

18 ³⁴a heart that devises wicked plans, ³⁵feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 ³⁶a false witness who ³⁷breathes out lies, and one who ³⁸sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 6:1-19 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. 6:1 See Job 17:3
• 2. 6:1 See Job 17:3
• 3. 6:2 [ch. 5:22]
• 4. 6:3 [Luke 11:8; 18:5]
• 5. 6:4 ch. 20:13; Ps. 132:4
• 6. 6:5 See Ps. 91:3
• 7. 6:6 [Job 12:7]
• 8. 6:6 ch. 30:25
• 9. 6:6 ch. 10:26
• 10. 6:6 ch. 23:19; 27:11
• 11. 6:7 [ch. 30:27]
• 12. 6:7 Ex. 5:6, 15
• 13. 6:8 [ch. 10:5]
• 14. 6:8 [ch. 10:5]
• 15. 6:9 [Jonah 1:6]
• 16. 6:9 [See ver. 6 above]
• 17. 6:10 ch. 24:33
• 18. 6:10 Eccles. 4:5
• 19. 6:10 ch. 24:33
• 20. 6:11 ch. 24:34
• 21. 6:12 ch. 16:27
• 22. 6:12 ch. 4:24
• 23. 6:13 ch. 10:10; Ps. 35:19
• 24. 6:14 See ch. 2:12
• 25. 6:14 [Mic. 2:1]; See ch. 3:29
• 26. 6:14 [ch. 16:28]
• 27. 6:15 Isa. 30:13, 14; Jer. 19:11
• 28. 6:15 ch. 29:1; 2 Chr. 36:16
• 29. 6:16 See Job 5:19
• 30. 6:16 See Job 5:19
• 31. 6:17 [ch. 8:13; 16:5; 21:4]; See Ps. 101:5
• 32. 6:17 ch. 12:22; 17:7; Ps. 31:18; 120:2
• 33. 6:17 Deut. 19:10; Isa. 1:15; 59:3, 7
• 34. 6:18 Gen. 6:5
• 35. 6:18 See ch. 1:16
• 36. 6:19 See Ps. 27:12
• 37. 6:19 ch. 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9
• 38. 6:19 [See ver. 14 above]

Footnotes

• [a] 6:3 Or 'humble yourself'
• [b] 6:5 Hebrew lacks 'of the hunter'
• [c] 6:13 Hebrew 'scrapes'