Practical Warnings
6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, [1] and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, [2]
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, [1] and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, [2]
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals [3] with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals [3] with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Warnings Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father's commandment,
and forsake not your mother's teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they [4] will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman, [5]
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. [6]
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, [7]
but a married woman [8] hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
and forsake not your mother's teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they [4] will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman, [5]
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. [6]
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, [7]
but a married woman [8] hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
Footnotes
[1] 6:3 Or humble yourself
[2] 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter
[3] 6:13 Hebrew scrapes
[4] 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
[5] 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
[6] 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
[7] 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
[8] 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife
[2] 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter
[3] 6:13 Hebrew scrapes
[4] 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
[5] 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
[6] 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
[7] 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
[8] 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife
3 comments:
Save yourself like a gazelle from hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. (v5)
Desperate situation calls for desperate measure. When we make a mistake that will endanger us greatly, we must take drastic action to come out of it. There is no time to dilly dally.
Notice I said ‘when’ we make a mistake and not ‘if’ because everyone will make mistakes. Sometime it will be a big and serious mistake that will endanger us, our love ones and our community.
It could be a bad financial investment decision, a bad relationship we have got ourselves into, a sin committed or in our proverb , putting up security (act as guarantor) for some one else.
We cannot kid ourselves any longer when we know very well that what we have done is a trap that will bring disastrous outcome. In the case of our text above, all our possessions could be squandered if the amount is big and that person defaulted his loan.
A prudent investor cuts his losses if the investment turns sour and starting to eat into his capital.
A doctor amputates a limb of a patient if the cancel cells have the slightest possibility of spreading to another part of the body.
Jesus said if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members then that your whole body be thrown into hell. (Mark 5:29)
When big stake are involved, drastic action is the only way out. You will never regret taking such drastic action despite the temporary pain that come with it.
An investor who cut his loss lives to put his money in another investment that will give him better yield/return. A patient who amputated his limb before the cancel cells started to spread lives many more years. The sinner who repented and die to self and sin will be saved from hell and God himself will welcome him to His heavenly dwelling.
So whatever mistakes we have done or whatever sins we have committed, do not feel comfortable about it. Instead our text says give your eyes no sleep, and your eyelid no slumber, (v4). Do not deceive ourselves, God can't be deceived as we will definately reap what we sow (gal 6::7). Take that drastic action today, die to seif, eat our humble pie; whether it is to cut our loses, to withdraw from an agreement, to break a relationship, to seek forgiveness and reconcile with others or to tremble at Gods holy throne and beg for His mercy. Just do it and get away from the trap.
Run like a gazelle, fly like a bird……… before it is too late!
correction:
'cancel' should be 'cancer'
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you
arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want
like an armed man.
Sluggard, lazy person, slothful..one who likes to take it
easy and would rather do anything but work. I have never
thought of laziness as sin, until I read proverbs.
There are many references in proverbs on this subject.
Laziness = Folly and Shame, 10:5, 24:30,31
Laziness = Wise in one's own eyes, 26:16
Laziness = Unfulfilled Needs and Desires, 13:4, 26:15,
19:15, 24:33,34, 21:25, 21:25, 10:4, 15:19, 12:24
Laziness = Doesn't prize his possessions, 2:27
Laziness = Cowardice and Excuses, 20:4, 22:13
I used to think that work is the punishment from God. But i
missed the point out totally. Work was not a consequence of
Adam's sin, because God ordained work even before the fall.
Genesis 3:17-19, but the ground was cursed, this means that
before the fall, Adam could produce the food with much less
work but now with the curse he had obstacles. God wants to
use our efforts and our works to bless other people, and
glorify God's name.
To be a sluggard will means that we have not live our life
to the ways that God wanted us to live, we are wasting the
life that God has given to us. Life and opportunity will
just pass the lazy man by.
Of course, there must be a balance between work and rest!
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