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