HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 933
PR OVER B S 6
page 563
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and someone else will enjoy the fruit
of your labor.
In the end you will groan in anguish
when disease consumes your body.
You will say, “How I hated discipline!
If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?
Why didn’t I pay attention to my
instructors?
I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
and now I must face public disgrace.”
Drink water from your own well—
share your love only with your wife.*
Why spill the water of your springs in
the streets,
having sex with just anyone?*
You should reserve it for yourselves.
Never share it with strangers.
Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts satisfy you always.
May you always be captivated by her love.
Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral
woman,
or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous
woman?
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great
foolishness.
Lessons for Daily Life
1 My child,* if you have put up security
for a friend’s debt
or agreed to guarantee the debt of a
stranger—
2 if you have trapped yourself by your
agreement
and are caught by what you said—
3 follow my advice and save yourself,
for you have placed yourself at your
friend’s mercy.
Now swallow your pride;
go and beg to have your name erased.
4 Don’t put it off; do it now!
Don’t rest until you do.
5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from
a hunter,
like a bird fleeing from a net.
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Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
5:15 Hebrew Drink water from your own cistern, / flowing water
from your own well. 5:16 Hebrew Why spill your springs in the
streets, / your streams in the city squares? 6:1 Hebrew My son.
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they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.
But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
then poverty will pounce on you like
a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed
robber.
What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of
fingers.
Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope
of healing.
There are six things the Lord hates—
no, seven things he detests:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.
My son, obey your father’s commands,
and don’t neglect your mother’s
instruction.
Keep their words always in your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk, their counsel will lead you.
When you sleep, they will protect you.
When you wake up, they will advise you.
For their command is a lamp
and their instruction a light;
their corrective discipline
is the way to life.
• Intimacy
PR OV E R B S 5:15-19
Many non-Christians believe that monogamous relationships are an irrelevant
and boring vestige of an outdated ethic.
Believers, on the other hand, sometimes assume that a desire for sexual
intimacy and pleasure is evil and ought
to be denied. This passage proves both
viewpoints to be in error. God intends
marriage to be both a lifetime commitment and a growing and satisfying
adventure of sexual intimacy.