Read the Bible

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor^(F1)2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth
trapped by the words from your mouth.³ 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.⁴ Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.^(C1)5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,^(F1)
like a bird from a hunter’s trap.^(F2)(C1)

⁶ Go to the ant,^(C1) you slacker!^(C2)
Observe its ways and become wise.⁷ Without leader, administrator, or ruler,⁸ it prepares its provisions in summer;
it gathers its food during harvest.^(C1)9 How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,¹¹ and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.^(C1)

¹² A worthless person,^(C1) a wicked man
goes around speaking dishonestly,^(C2)13 winking^(C1) his eyes, signaling with his feet,
and gesturing with his fingers.¹⁴ He always plots evil^(C1) with perversity in his heart;
he stirs up trouble.^(C2)15 Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly;
he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.^(C1)

¹⁶ The Lord hates six things;
in fact, seven are detestable to him:¹⁷ arrogant eyes,^(C1) a lying tongue,^(C2)
hands that shed innocent blood,^(C3)18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,^(C1)
feet eager to run to evil,^(C2)19 a lying witness who gives false testimony,^(C1)
and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.^(C2)

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.^(C1)21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.^(C1)22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.²³ For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,^(C1)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(C2)24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^(F1)
from the flattering^(F2) tongue of a wayward woman.^(C1)25 Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty^(C1)
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(C2)26 For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,^(F1)
but the wife of another man^(F2) goes after a precious life.^(C1)27 Can a man embrace fire
and his clothes not be burned?²⁸ Can a man walk on burning coals
without scorching his feet?²⁹ So it is with the one who sleeps with
another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.^(C1)30 People don’t despise the thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(C1)31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(C1)
he must give up all the wealth in his house.³² The one who commits adultery^(F1) lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.^(C1)33 He will get a beating^(F1) and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be removed.³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,^(C1)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.³⁵ He will not be appeased by anything
or be persuaded by lavish bribes.