BOOK 20 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Proverbs 6

Proverbs book home•Chapter 6 of 31•35 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Proverbs 6 Overview

The chapter warns against rash surety, points the sluggard to the ant, describes a wicked troublemaker, lists things the LORD hates, and returns to the devastating cost of adultery.

ProverbsBook

6Chapter

35Verses

PoetryDivision

Before you read Proverbs 6

Coming from

Proverbs 5 emphasized marital faithfulness against the ruin of adultery. Because many proverbs are individual sayings rather than a continuous argument, the chapter-to-chapter connection is thematic rather than narrative.

In this chapter

The chapter warns against rash surety, points the sluggard to the ant, describes a wicked troublemaker, lists things the LORD hates, and returns to the devastating cost of adultery.

Leads into

Proverbs 7 turns to a vivid picture of seduction and its deadly end, expanding wisdom into another set of choices, contrasts, and observations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Several distinct wisdom units appear in one chapter; they should not be forced into one storyline. Proverbs uses compact wisdom sayings to train judgment. Its normal patterns describe how God’s moral order ordinarily works; they are not mechanical guarantees that remove human freedom, suffering, or providence.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Central truth

Wisdom about debt, diligence, destructive character, and adultery.

Wisdom truth

In Proverbs 6, wisdom is moral skill under the fear of the LORD, not merely intelligence or practical cleverness.

Diligence truth

In Proverbs 6, diligence values timely, responsible work and rejects the self-deception of habitual laziness.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Wisdom connection

James 1:5 says those who lack wisdom should ask God, who gives generously. This connection helps frame Proverbs 6.

Diligence connection

Colossians 3:23 calls believers to work heartily as unto the Lord. This connection helps frame Proverbs 6.

Sexual Purity connection

Matthew 5:27-30 places sexual sin in the heart as well as outward conduct. This connection helps frame Proverbs 6.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep wisdom in context

Do not read Proverbs 6 as a set of magic formulas. Proverbs trains wise judgment in the ordinary moral order God established.

Keep diligence in context

The diligence teaching in Proverbs 6 condemns habitual sloth; it should not be used to shame legitimate rest, disability, illness, or unavoidable hardship.

Read Proverbs 6 watching for…

surety.

go to ant.

froward mouth.

six things LORD hates.

can man take fire.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-5Escape foolish financial pledges quickly and humble yourself to be released 6-11Learn diligence from the ant and avoid the poverty of laziness 12-19The wicked troublemaker and the seven things the LORD hates 20-35Keep parental instruction and flee adultery, jealousy, and its destructive consequences

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.