Proverbs 6:1-35 (NIV)
Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another,
2 if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. [a]
12 A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—he always stirs up dissension.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
21 Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,
24 keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes,
26 for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away;
34 for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.
Footnotes:
1. Proverbs 6:11 Or like a vagrant / and scarcity like a beggar
5 facts of suretyship
1. Command against suretyship (Proverbs 12:26)
2. Command to get out of suretyship as quickly as possible (Proverbs 6:1-5)
3. Suretyship is a sign of lack of understanding (Proverbs 17:18)
4. Suffering and disappointment are what is promised in suretyship (Proverbs 11:15)
5. To refrain from suretyship is the only safe way (Proverbs 11:15)
15 ways of ants (6:6-8; 30:25)
1. Most laborious insects in existence
2. Most highly industrialized
3. Collect food in proper season
4. Fondly attached to the young
5. Have keen foresight for others
6. Work quietly without show
7. Work unweariedly until work is done
8. Work together in astonishing systems of organization to the best good of the whole community
9. Are ingenious carpenters and masons, building their own system of homes and underground tunnels
10. Keep their homes scrupulously clean
11. No one among them exists without a definite job in life to help meet the needs of the community
12. Fight to death to protect their own homes and young from enemies
13. Their social life compares with that of human beings in many respects
14. They are intelligent and wise
15. They carry out life's work without being forced to do so by a guide, overseer, or ruler
A worthless man; of Belial - His 7 sins:
1. Forward (perverse)
2. Winketh with his eyes
3. Speaketh with his feet
4. Teaches with his fingers
5. Frowardness (deceitfulness of heart)
6. Continual plots, schemes, and plans of sin
7. Soweth discord in familiies, churches, communities, or nations
3 places to bind truth:
1. Upon the heart (v 21)
2. Around the neck (3:3; 6:21)
3. Upon the fingers (7:3)
3 things truth is:
1. A lamp (v 23; Psalm 119:105)
2. A light (v 23; Psalm 119:105, 130)
3. Reproofs of instruction (v 23; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12)
7 things to be kept from:
1. The evil woman (v 24)
2. Her flattery (v 24)
3. Lust after her beauty (v 25)
4. Captivity by her eyelids (v 25)
5. Poverty through her (v 26)
6. Death by sin with her (v 26)
7. Sin with her (v 27-29)
6 evil effects of adultery:
1. Spiritual death (v 32; Romans 8:12-13)
2. Physical death (v 32; Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22)
3. Eternal death (v 32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8; 22:15)
4. A wound and dishonor. Among the Romans one caught in the act was delivered to the injured husband to be punished with infamy, disgrace, and even death if he willed (v 33-35)
5. Lasting reproach (v 33)
6. Blinding rage of the husband (v 34-35)
