Bible Reading Plan

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor^[a]
or entered into an agreement with^[b] a stranger,^[c](a)
2 you have been trapped by the words of your lips^[d]—
ensnared by the words of 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.^(b)
5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,^[e]
like a bird from a fowler's trap.^[f](c)

⁶ Go to the ant,^(d) you slacker!^(e)
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.^(f)
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,^(g)
11 and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.^(h)

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

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

²⁰ My son, keep your father's command,
and don't reject your mother's teaching.^(v)
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.^(w)
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,^(x)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(y)
24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^[g]
from the flattering^[h] tongue of a stranger.^(z)
25 Don't lust in your heart for her beauty^(aa)
or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.^(ab)
26 For a prostitute's fee is only a loaf of bread,^[i]
but an adulteress^[j] goes after a precious life.^(ac)
27 Can a man embrace fire^[k]
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.^(ad)
30 People don't despise the thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is hungry.^(ae)
31 Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;^(af)
he must give up all the wealth in his house.
³² The one who commits adultery^[l] lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.^(ag)
33 He will get a beating^[m] and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be removed.
³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband,^(ah)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
³⁵ He will not be appeased by anything
or be persuaded by lavish gifts.