| 1 | My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider, |
| 2 | then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words. |
| 3 | Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend. |
| 4 | Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber. |
| 5 | Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. |
| 6 | Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom. |
| 7 | For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader, |
| 8 | she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat. |
| 9 | How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep? |
| 10 | You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep, |
| 11 | and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you. |
| 12 | An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth; |
| 13 | he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger. |
| 14 | With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict. |
| 15 | To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy. |
| 16 | Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests: |
| 17 | haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, |
| 18 | a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil, |
| 19 | a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. |
| 20 | My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother. |
| 21 | Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat. |
| 22 | When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them. |
| 23 | For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. |
| 24 | So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider. |
| 25 | Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks. |
| 26 | For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man. |
| 27 | Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn? |
| 28 | Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned? |
| 29 | So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her. |
| 30 | Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul. |
| 31 | Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house. |
| 32 | But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul. |
| 33 | He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. |
| 34 | For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication, |
| 35 | nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts. |
