Proverbs 6:1-19

Against Pledges

1 My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger,

2 [if] you are snared by the sayings of your mouth, [if] you are caught by the sayings of your mouth,

3 do this, then, my child, and save yourself, for you have come into {the palm of your neighbor's hand}: Go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbor.

4 Do not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids.

5 Save yourself like a gazelle from a hand, or like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

Against Sloth

6 Go to the ant, lazy! Consider its ways and be wise.

7 It has no chief, officer, or ruler.

8 In the summer, it prepares its food; in the harvest, it gathers its sustenance.

9 How long will you lie down, lazy? When will you rise up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands for rest--

11 like a {robber} shall your poverty come, and what you lack like an armed man.

Against Worthlessness

12 A worthless man, an evil man, goes around with {deceitful speech}.

13 Winking in his eye, shuffling in his foot, pointing in his fingers,

14 perversion in his heart, he devises evil; at all times he will send out discord.

15 Upon {such a man}, suddenly shall his calamity come; in a moment he will be damaged and there is no healing.

What Yahweh Hates

16 There are six [things] Yahweh hates, and seven [things are] abominations of his soul:

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

18 a devising heart, plans of deception, feet that hurry to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes lies and sends out discord between 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "palms of your hands"
• [b] Literally "the palm of the hand of your neighbor"
• [c] Literally "one who walks," that is, a vagabond
• [d] Literally "crookedness of mouth"
• [e] Or "quarrels"
• [f] Literally "thus"
• [g] Or "repair"
• [h] Or "inner self"
• [i] Hebrew "the evil"
• [j] Or "quarrels"