Proverbs 6:6-19

6 ¹Go to ²the ant, O ³sluggard; consider her ways, and ⁴be wise.

7 ⁵Without having any chief, ⁶officer, or ruler,

8 she prepares her bread ⁷in summer and ⁸gathers her food in harvest.

9 ⁹How long will you lie there, ¹⁰O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

10 ¹¹A little sleep, a little slumber, ¹²a little ¹³folding of the hands to rest,

11 ¹⁴and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

12 ¹⁵A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with ¹⁶crooked speech,

13 ¹⁷winks with his eyes, signals^[a] with his feet, points with his finger,

14 with ¹⁸perverted heart ¹⁹devises evil, continually ²⁰sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; ²¹in a moment he will be broken ²²beyond healing.

16 There are ²³six things that the LORD hates, ²⁴seven that are an abomination to him:

17 ²⁵haughty eyes, ²⁶a lying tongue, and ²⁷hands that shed innocent blood,

18 ²⁸a heart that devises wicked plans, ²⁹feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 ³⁰a false witness who ³¹breathes out lies, and one who ³²sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 6:6-19 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. [Job 12:7]
• 2. Proverbs 30:25
• 3. Proverbs 10:26
• 4. Proverbs 23:19; Proverbs 27:11
• 5. [Proverbs 30:27]
• 6. Exodus 5:6, 15
• 7. [Proverbs 10:5]
• 8. [Proverbs 10:5]
• 9. [Jonah 1:6]
• 10. [See ver. 6 above]
• 11. Proverbs 24:33
• 12. Ecclesiastes 4:5
• 13. Proverbs 24:33
• 14. Proverbs 24:34
• 15. Proverbs 16:27
• 16. Proverbs 4:24
• 17. Proverbs 10:10; Psalms 35:19
• 18. See Proverbs 2:12
• 19. [Micah 2:1]; See Proverbs 3:29
• 20. [Proverbs 16:28]
• 21. Isaiah 30:13, 14; Jeremiah 19:11
• 22. Proverbs 29:1; 2 Chronicles 36:16
• 23. See Job 5:19
• 24. See Job 5:19
• 25. [Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 21:4]; See Psalms 101:5
• 26. Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 17:7; Psalms 31:18; Psalms 120:2
• 27. Deuteronomy 19:10; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:3, 7
• 28. Genesis 6:5
• 29. See Proverbs 1:16
• 30. See Psalms 27:12
• 31. Proverbs 12:17; Proverbs 14:5, 25; Proverbs 19:5, 9
• 32. [See ver. 14 above]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew scrapes