Proverbs 6:8-18

8 but they store up food in the summer and gather their supplies at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you lazy person? When will you get up from sleeping?

10 You sleep a little; you take a nap. You fold your hands and lie down to rest.

11 So you will be as poor as if you had been robbed; you will have as little as if you had been held up.

12 Some people are wicked and no good. They go around telling lies,

13 winking with their eyes, tapping with their feet, and making signs with their fingers.

14 They make evil plans in their hearts and are always starting arguments.

15 So trouble will strike them in an instant; suddenly they will be so hurt no one can help them.

16 There are six things the Lord hates. There are seven things he cannot stand:

17 a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people,

18 a mind that thinks up evil plans, feet that are quick to do evil,

Proverbs 6:8-18 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.