Proverbs 6:1-11

1 son, if thou become surety for thy friend, thou shalt deliver thine hand to an enemy.
2 For a man's own lips become a strong snare to him, and he is caught with the lips of his own mouth.
3 son, do what I command thee, and deliver thyself; for on thy friend's account thou art come into the power of evil : faint not, but stir up even thy friend for whom thou art become surety.
4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber with thine eyelids;
5 that thou mayest deliver thyself as a doe out of the toils, and as a bird out of a snare.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he.
7 For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master,
8 he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom.
9 How long wilt thou lie, O sluggard? and when wilt thou awake out of sleep?
10 Thou sleepest a little, and thou restest a little, and thou slumberest a short , and thou foldest thine arms over thy breast a little.
11 Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier: but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.