1 Son, if you
endorse a note for someone you hardly know, guaranteeing his debt, you are in
serious trouble.
2 You may
have trapped yourself by the agreement.
3 Quick! Get
out of it if you possibly can! Swallow your pride, don’t let embarrassment
stand in the way. Go and beg to have your name erased.
4 Don’t put
it off. Do it now. Don’t rest until you do.
5 If you can
get out of this trap you have saved yourself like a deer that escapes from a
hunter, or a bird from a net.
6 Take a
lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise!
7 For though
they have no king to make them work,
8 yet they
labor hard all summer gathering up food for the winter.
9 But you-all
you do is sleep. When will you wake up?
10 “Let me
sleep a little longer!” Sure, just a little more!
11 And as you
sleep, poverty creeps upon you like a robber and destroys you; want attacks you
in full armor.
12,13 Let me
describe for you a worthless and wicked man; first, he is a constant liar; he
signals his true intentions to his friends with eyes and feet and fingers.
14 Next, his
heart is full of rebellion. And he spends his time thinking of all the evil he
can do, and stirring up discontent.
15 But he
will be destroyed suddenly, broken beyond hope of healing.
16-19 For
there are six things The LORD hates – no seven:
Haughtiness
Lying
Murdering
Plotting evil
Eagerness to
do wrong
A false
witness
Sowing
discord among brothers.
20 Young man,
obey your father and your mother.
21 Tie their
instructions around your finger so you won’t forget. Take to heart all their
advice.
22 Every day
and all night long their counsel will lead you and save you from harm; when you
wake up in the morning, let their instructions guide you into the new day.
23 For their
advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn
you of danger and to give you a good life.
24 Their
counsel will keep you far away from prostitutes with all their flatteries.
25 Don’t lust
for their beauty. Don’t let their coyness seduce you.
26 For a
prostitute will bring a man to poverty and an adulteress may cost him his very
life.
27 Can a man
hold fire against his chest and not be burned?
28 Can he
walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
29 So it is
with the man who commits adultery with another’s wife. He shall not go
unpunished for this sin.
30 Excuses
might even be found for a thief, if he steals when he is starving!
31 But even
so, he is fined seven times as much as he stole, though it may mean selling
everything in his house to pay it back.
32 But the
man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul.
33 Wounds and
constant disgrace are his lot,
34 for the
woman’s husband will be furious in his jealousy and he will have no mercy on
you in his day of vengeance.
35 You won’t
be able to buy him off no matter what you offer.
Text: Children's Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers 1972
Photo Credits: Google Images
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