Proverbs 6
1599 Geneva Bible
6 1 Instruction for sureties. 6 The slothful and sluggish is stirred to work. 12 He describeth the nature of the wicked. 16 The things that God hateth. 20 To observe the word of God. 24 To flee adultery.
1 My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor, and hast stricken hands with the stranger,
2 Thou art [a]snared with the words of thy mouth: thou art even taken with the words of thine own mouth.
3 Do this now, my Son, and deliver thyself: seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor, go, and humble thyself, and solicit thy friends.
4 Give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Deliver thyself as a Doe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 ¶ Go to [b]the pismire, O sluggard: behold her ways, and be wise.
7 For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler,
8 Prepareth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of the sleep?
10 (A)Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, [c]a little folding of the hands to sleep.
11 Therefore thy poverty cometh as one that [d]traveleth by the way, and thy necessity like [e]an armed man.
12 The unthrifty man [f]and the wicked man walketh with a froward mouth.
13 He maketh a sign with his eyes: he [g]signifieth with his feet: he [h]instructeth with his fingers.
14 Lewd things are in his heart: he imagineth evil at all times, and raiseth up contentions.
15 Therefore shall his destruction come speedily: he shall be destroyed suddenly without recovery.
16 ¶ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, his soul abhorreth seven:
17 The haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and the hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that imagineth wicked enterprises, [i]feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that raiseth up contentions among [j]brethren.
20 ¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not thy mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them always upon thine [k]heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 It shall lead thee when thou walkest: it shall watch for thee when thou sleepest, and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee.
23 For the [l]commandment is a lantern, and instruction a light: and [m]corrections for instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep thee from the wicked woman, and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Desire not her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her [n]eye lids.
26 For because of the whorish woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread, and a woman will hunt for the precious life of a man.
27 [o]Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt?
28 Or can a man go upon coals, and his feet not be burnt?
29 So he that goeth into his neighbor’s wife, shall not be innocent, whosoever toucheth her.
30 Men do not [p]despise a thief, when he stealeth to satisfy his [q]soul, because he is hungry.
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, or he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But he that commiteth adultery with a woman, he [r]is destitute of understanding: he that doeth it, destroyeth his own soul.
33 He shall find [s]a wound and dishonor, and his reproach shall never be put away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not [t]spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He cannot bear the sight of any ransom: neither will he consent, though thou augment the gifts.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:2 He forbiddeth us not to become surety one for another, according to the rule of charity, but that we consider for whom and after what sort, so that the creditor may not be defrauded.
- Proverbs 6:6 If the word of God cannot instruct thee, yet learn at the little pismire to labor for thyself and not to burden others.
- Proverbs 6:10 He expresseth lively the nature of the sluggards, which though they sleep never so long, yet have never enough, but ever seek occasions thereunto.
- Proverbs 6:11 That is, suddenly, and when thou lookest not for it.
- Proverbs 6:11 It shall come in such sort, as thou are not able to resist it.
- Proverbs 6:12 He showeth to what inconvenience the idle persons and sluggards come, by calling them unthrifty, or the men of Belial, and slanderous.
- Proverbs 6:13 Hebrew, speaketh.
- Proverbs 6:13 Thus all his gesture tendeth to wickedness.
- Proverbs 6:18 Meaning, the raging affections, which carry a man away in such sort that he cannot tell what he doeth.
- Proverbs 6:19 Or, neighbors.
- Proverbs 6:21 Read Prov. 3:3.
- Proverbs 6:23 By the commandment, he meaneth the word of God: and by the instruction, the preaching and declaration of the same, which is committed to the Church.
- Proverbs 6:23 And reprehensions when the word is preached bring us to life.
- Proverbs 6:25 With her wanton looks and gesture.
- Proverbs 6:27 Meaning, that she will never cease till she have brought thee to beggary, and then seek thy destruction.
- Proverbs 6:30 He reproveth not theft, but showeth that it is not so abominable as whoredom, forasmuch as theft might be redeemed: but adultery was a perpetual infamy, and death by the law of God.
- Proverbs 6:30 Meaning, for very necessity.
- Proverbs 6:32 Hebrew, faileth in heart.
- Proverbs 6:33 That is, death appointed by the Law.
- Proverbs 6:34 He showeth that man by nature seeketh his death, that hath abused his wife, and so concludeth, that neither God’s Law nor the law of nature admitteth any ransom for the adultery.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Bible Gateway Recommends
