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My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a strange,
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you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of you mouth.
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So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go - to the point of exhaustion – and give your neighbor no rest!
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Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
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Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
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Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
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It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
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yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
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How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
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A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -
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and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
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A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
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who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,
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who plots evil with deceit in his heart – he always stirs up conflict.
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Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed – without remedy.
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There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
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haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
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a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
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a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
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My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
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Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.
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When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
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For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,
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keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
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Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
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For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
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Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
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Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
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So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
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People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
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Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
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But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
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Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
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For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
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He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
