Proverbs 6 Brenton's English Septuagint

About Brenton

Individual translator
OT: Septuagint (Greek)
Septuagint Old Testament (no New Testament)
Formal (word for word)
1844
Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (2)

Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.

Brenton Brenton's English Septuagint

WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)

1 [My] son, if thou become surety for thy friend, thou shalt deliver thine hand to an enemy.

1 My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,

2 For a man's own lips become a strong snare to him, and he is caught with the lips of his own mouth.

2 you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

3 [My] son, do what I command thee, and deliver thyself; for on thy friend's account thou art come into the power of evil [men]: faint not, but stir up even thy friend for whom thou art become surety.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber with thine eyelids;

4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

5 that thou mayest deliver thyself as a doe out of the toils, and as a bird out of a snare.

5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he.

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

7 For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master,

7 which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

8 he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest.

8 provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

8a Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work;

8b whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all:

8c though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom.

9 How long wilt thou lie, O sluggard? and when wilt thou awake out of sleep?

9 How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

10 Thou sleepest a little, and thou restest a little, and thou slumberest a short [time], and thou foldest thine arms over thy breast a little.

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—

11 Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier:

11 so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

11a but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.

12 A foolish man and a transgressor goes in ways that are not good.

12 A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth,

13 And the same winks with the eye, and makes a sign with his foot, and teaches with the beckonings of his fingers.

13 who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers,

14 [His] perverse heart devises evils: at all times such a one causes troubles to a city.

14 in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

15 Therefore his destruction shall come suddenly; overthrow and irretrievable ruin.

15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

16 For he rejoices in all things which God hates, and he is ruined by reason of impurity of soul.

16 There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

17 The eye of the haughty, a tongue unjust, hands shedding the blood of the just;

17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18 and a heart devising evil thoughts, and feet hastening to do evil,—[are hateful to God].

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 An unjust witness kindles falsehoods, and brings on quarrels between brethren.

19 a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

20 [My] son, keep the laws of thy father, and reject not the ordinances of thy mother:

20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

21 but bind them upon thy soul continually, and hang them as a chain about thy neck.

21 Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

22 Whensoever thou walkest, lead this along and let it be with thee; and when thou sleepest let it keep thee; that it may talk with thee when thou wakest.

22 When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

23 For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life; reproof also and correction:

23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

24 to keep thee continually from a married woman, and from the calumny of a strange tongue.

24 to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

25 Let not the desire of beauty overcome thee, neither be thou caught by thine eyes, neither be captivated with her eyelids.

25 Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26 For the value of a harlot is as much as of one loaf; and a woman hunts for the precious souls of men.

26 For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

27 Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments?

27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

28 or will any one walk on coals of fire, and not burn his feet?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

29 So is he that goes in to a married woman; he shall not be held guiltless, neither any one that touches her.

29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

30 It is not to be wondered at if one should be taken stealing, for he steals that when hungry he may satisfy his soul:

30 Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,

31 but if he should be taken, he shall repay sevenfold, and shall deliver himself by giving all his goods.

31 but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

32 But the adulterer through want of sense procures destruction to his soul.

32 He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

33 He endures both pain and disgrace, and his reproach shall never be wiped off.

33 He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

34 For the soul of her husband is full of jealousy: he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

34 For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not forego [his] enmity for any ransom: neither will he be reconciled for many gifts.

35 He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

Cross references (37)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

Quotes verse 6:26 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book II, Chapters 5–6)
… minds of the Romans, demanded for her service their best citizen, not to ripen him still more in virtue by her helpful counsel, but to entangle him by her deceit, like her of whom it is written, "The adulteress will hunt for the precious soul." Her intent was to puff up this high- souled man by an apparently divine testimony …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Quotes verse 6:34 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily IV)
For ye know how great a thing jealousy is: and therefore He said, to whom these things are clearly known, "For full of jealousy is the rage of a husband;" "he will not spare in the day of vengeance:" and "jealousy is cruel as the grave." And we too know of many that have chosen to give up their lives …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Quotes verse 6:27 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture II)
If however any one thinks that he is not being burned when sinning, to him the Scripture saith, Shall a man wrap up fire in his bosom, and not burn his clothes?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Quotes verse 6:8 Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm XLIX)
Be therefore prudent, copy the ant, as saith the Scripture: "Store in summer, lest thou hunger in winter;" the winter is the last day, the day of tribulation; the winter is the day of offences and of bitterness: gather what may be there for thee for the future: but if thou doest not so, thou wilt perish both imprudent and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
Quotes verse 6:6–8 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily XVII)
… send unto Kedar, and know if nations will change their gods; which yet are no gods." And to the brutes likewise He sends us oftentimes, saying on this wise, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, and emulate her ways:" and "go forth to the bee." This therefore I also now say unto you; consider the philosophers of the Greeks; and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)

Old Testament

What the Fathers said