Financial Entanglements

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,[c](A)
you have been trapped by the words of your lips[d]
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.(B)
Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,[e]
like a bird from a fowler’s trap.[f](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:1 Or friend
  2. Proverbs 6:1 Lit or shaken hands for or with
  3. Proverbs 6:1 The Hb word for stranger can refer to a foreigner, an Israelite outside one’s family, or simply to another person.
  4. Proverbs 6:2 Lit mouth
  5. Proverbs 6:5 Lit hand
  6. Proverbs 6:5 Lit hand

Warnings Against Folly

My son,(A) if you have put up security(B) for your neighbor,(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge(D) for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,

15 If someone puts up security for a stranger,
he will suffer for it,(A)
but the one who hates such agreements is protected.

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15 Whoever puts up security(A) for a stranger will surely suffer,
    but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.(B)

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16 Take his garment,[a]
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:16 A debtor’s outer garment was held as collateral.

16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge(A) if it is done for an outsider.(B)

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