Warnings against Foolishness

If the son has pledged security for another and become trapped by his own promise, he must humble himself urgently and free himself without delay. The warning treats rash financial obligation as a danger requiring immediate escape, not passive hope.

M¹y son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, ²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ³then do this, my son, to free yourself, ⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

The slacker is sent to observe the ant, which works without external compulsion and stores provision in season. By contrast, habitual sleep and delay invite poverty to arrive like an armed intruder.

⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; ⁷Without a commander, ⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; ⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker? ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, ¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

A worthless and wicked man is described through deceitful signals, perverse intentions, and continual sowing of discord. Because his evil is deliberate and disruptive, his collapse will be sudden and beyond remedy.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, ¹³winking his eyes, speaking with his feet, ¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil; ¹⁵Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

The father names seven things detestable to the LORD: pride, lying, murderous violence, wicked schemes, eagerness for evil, false testimony, and the stirring up of strife among brothers. The list reveals that God judges not only actions but the proud, deceitful, and divisive dispositions beneath them.

¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, ¹⁹a false witness who gives false testimony,