Proverbs 6:3-13

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, Seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

4 Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

7 Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler,

8 Provides her bread in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 So your poverty will come as a robber, And your scarcity as an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a man of iniquity, Is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

13 Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who motions with his fingers;

Proverbs 6:3-13 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.