Proverbs 4; Proverbs 5; Proverbs 6

Proverbs 4

1 Hear, children, fatherly instruction; pay attention to gain understanding.

2 I'll teach you well. Don't abandon my instruction.

3 When I was a son to my father, tender and my mother's favorite,

4 he taught me and said to me: "Let your heart hold on to my words: Keep my commands and live.

5 Get wisdom; get understanding. Don't forget and don't turn away from my words.

6 Don't abandon her, and she will guard you. Love her, and she will protect you.

7 The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom! Get understanding before anything else.

8 Highly esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her.

9 She will place a graceful wreath on your head; she will give you a glorious crown."

10 Listen, my son, and take in my speech, then the years of your life will be many.

11 I teach you the path of wisdom. I lead you in straight courses.

12 When you walk, you won't be hindered; when you run, you won't stumble.

13 Hold on to instruction; don't slack off; protect it, for it is your life.

14 Don't go on the way of the wicked; don't walk on the path of evil people.

15 Avoid it! Don't turn onto it; stay off of it and keep going!

16 They don't sleep unless they do evil; they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

17 They eat the bread of evil, and they drink the wine of violence.

18 The way of the righteous is like morning light that gets brighter and brighter till it is full day.

19 The path of the wicked is like deep darkness; they don't know where they will stumble.

20 My son, pay attention to my words. Bend your ear to my speech.

21 Don't let them slip from your sight. Guard them in your mind.

22 They are life to those who find them, and healing for their entire body.

23 More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it.

24 Have nothing to do with a corrupt mouth; keep devious lips far from you.

25 Focus your eyes straight ahead; keep your gaze on what is in front of you.

26 Watch your feet on the way, and all your paths will be secure.

27 Don't deviate a bit to the right or the left; turn your feet away from evil.

Proverbs 5

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Bend your ear to what I know,

2 so you might remain discreet, and your lips might guard knowledge.

3 The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey, and her tongue is smoother than oil,

4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead to the grave.

6 She doesn't stay on the way of life. Her paths wander, but she doesn't know it.

7 Now children, listen to me, and don't deviate from the words of my mouth.

8 Stay on a path that is far from her; don't approach the entrance to her house.

9 Otherwise, you will give your strength to others, your years to a cruel person.

10 Otherwise, strangers will sap your strength, and your hard work will end up in a foreigner's house.

11 You will groan at the end when your body and flesh are exhausted,

12 and you say, "How I hated instruction! How my heart despised correction!

13 I didn't listen to the voice of my instructor. I didn't obey my teacher.

14 I'm on the brink of utter ruin in the assembled community."

15 Drink water from your own cistern, gushing water from your own well.

16 Should your fountains flood outside, streams of water in the public squares?

17 They are yours alone, not for you as well as strangers.

18 May your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts intoxicate you all the time; always be drunk on her love.

20 Why, my son, should you lose your senses with a mysterious woman and embrace the breasts of a foreign female?

21 The LORD's eyes watch over every person's path, observing all their ways.

22 The wicked will be caught by their own evil acts, grabbed by the ropes of their own sin.

23 Those without instruction will die, misled by their own stupidity.

Proverbs 6

1 My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,

2 you will be trapped by your words; you will be caught by your words.

3 Do this, my son, to get out of it, for you have come under the control of your neighbor. So go, humble yourself, and pester your neighbor.

4 Don't give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

5 Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

6 Go to the ant, you lazy person; observe its ways and grow wise.

7 The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.

8 Even so, it gets its food in summer; gathers its provisions at harvest.

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

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to lie down—

11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler, destitution like a warrior.

12 Worthless people and guilty people go around with crooked talk.

13 They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet, and point with their fingers.

14 Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil; they create controversies all the time.

15 Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them; they will be quickly broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven things detestable to him:

17 snobbish eyes, a lying tongue, hands that spill innocent blood,

18 a heart set on wicked plans, feet that run quickly to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes lies, and one who causes conflicts among relatives.

20 My son, keep your father's command; don't abandon your mother's instruction.

21 Bind them on your heart for all time; fasten them around your neck.

22 When you walk around, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will protect you; when you awake, they will occupy your attention.

23 The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light; corrective teaching is the path of life.

24 They guard you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.

25 Don't desire her beauty in secret; don't let her take you in with her eyelashes,

26 for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts for a man's very life.

27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap and his clothes not get burned?

28 If a man walks on hot coals, don't his feet get burned?

29 So is the man who approaches his neighbor's wife; anyone who touches her will be punished.

30 People don't despise a thief if he steals to fill his starving stomach.

31 But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give all the riches of his house.

32 He who commits adultery is senseless. Doing so, he destroys himself.

33 He is wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be wiped away.

34 Jealousy makes a man rage; he'll show no mercy on his day of revenge.

35 He won't accept compensation; he'll refuse even a large bribe.