New Living Translation NLT
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
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My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,
2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—
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Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,
3 follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.
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Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,
4 Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.
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Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,
5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.
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Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!
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Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;
7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,
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Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,
8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
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She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.
9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?
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Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep?
10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
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A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,
11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
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And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.
12 What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars,
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A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking [with] perverseness of mouth,
13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
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Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,
14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.
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Frowardness [is] in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.
15 But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
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Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken -- and no healing.
16 There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things he detests:
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These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven [are] abominations to His soul.
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,
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Eyes high -- tongues false -- And hands shedding innocent blood --
18 a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,
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A heart devising thoughts of vanity -- Feet hasting to run to evil --
19 a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.
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A false witness [who] doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
20 My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
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Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.
21 Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.
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Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck.
22 When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you.
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In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked -- it talketh [with] thee.
23 For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.
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For a lamp [is] the command, And the law a light, And a way of life [are] reproofs of instruction,
24 It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
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To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.
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Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.
26 For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
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For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.
27 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?
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Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?
28 Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
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Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?
29 So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
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So [is] he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.
30 Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.
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They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,
31 But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.
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And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.
32 But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.
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He who committeth adultery [with] a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.
33 He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased.
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A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away,
34 For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
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For jealousy [is] the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.
35 He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.
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He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.