Warning against suretyship
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My son, if you set aside your money as a guarantee for your neighbor’s loan, if you gave your promise for a loan of someone you do not know,
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then you have laid a trap for yourself by your promise and you have been caught by the words of your mouth.
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When you are caught by your words, my son, do this and save yourself, since you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor; go and humble yourself and make your case before your neighbor.
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Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber.
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Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Warning against laziness
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Look at the ant, you lazy person, consider her ways, and be wise.
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It has no commander, officer, or ruler,
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yet it prepares its food in the summer and during the harvest it stores up what it will eat.
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How long will you sleep, you lazy person? When will you rise 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 your poverty will come like a robber and your needs like an armed soldier.
Warning against falsehood
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A worthless person-a wicked man-lives by the crookedness of his speech,
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winking his eyes, making signals with his feet and pointing with his fingers.
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He plots evil with deceit in his heart; he always stirs up discord.
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Therefore, his disaster will overtake him in an instant; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Prevention of seven sins
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There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that are disgusting to him.
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The eyes of a proud person, a tongue that lies, hands that shed the blood of innocent people,
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a heart that invents wicked schemes, feet that quickly run to do evil,
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a witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers.
Prevention against adultery
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My son, obey the command of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
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Always bind them on your heart; tie them about your neck.
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When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you wake up, they will teach you.
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For the commands are a lamp, and the teaching is a light; the corrections that come by instruction are the way of life.
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It keeps you from the immoral woman, from the smooth words of an immoral woman.
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Do not lust in your heart after her beauty and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.
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Sleeping with a prostitute can cost the price of a loaf of bread, but the wife of another may cost you your very life.
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Can a man carry a fire against his chest without burning his clothes?
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Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?
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So is the man who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife; the one who sleeps with her will not go unpunished.
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People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his need when he is hungry.
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Yet if he is caught, he will pay back seven times what he stole; he must give up everything of value in his house.
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The one who commits adultery has no sense; the one who does it destroys himself.
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Wounds and shame are what he deserves and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
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For jealousy makes a man furious; he will show no mercy when he takes his revenge.
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He will accept no compensation and he cannot be bought off, though you offer him many gifts.
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