Chapter 6
Imagine someone eagerly signing a contract without reading the fine print — only to find out later they’ve just agreed to pay someone else’s rent, water bill, and college tuition… for life. Or picture a guy who hits snooze one too many times, misses his job interview, forgets his laundry in the washer (again), and wonders why his life feels like it’s always stuck in neutral. He cries to others, “Why does life always give me the short end of the stick?”
Welcome to Proverbs 6 — where wisdom pulls no punches and doesn’t mind stepping on your toes if it’ll keep you from face-planting into disaster.
This chapter delivers a rapid-fire set of warnings: Don’t cosign debt recklessly. Don’t let laziness rob you blind. Don’t be the kind of person who’s always stirring up drama like it’s a competitive sport. And for the love of everything good and holy — don’t fall into the trap of seductive sin thinking you’ll be the one person who walks away unburned.
We’re still falling into the same old traps today — financial messes because we didn’t ask enough questions, wasted opportunities because the couch felt more inviting than our calling, and moral failures because we thought “just this once” wouldn’t matter. Proverbs 6 isn’t here to scold us — it’s here to wake us up. Sometimes with a slap. Sometimes with a smirk.
Proverbs says giving in to temptation is like holding fire to your chest and being shocked that you’re on fire. Shocker. It’s like breaking into a beehive with your bare hands and blaming the bees because you got stung. It’s foolish — not because temptation isn’t powerful, but because we act like we’re stronger than it.
The solution? Keep God in your sight, and you’ll keep wisdom in your sight. When you’re looking at Him, you’re far less likely to fall for smooth words, empty promises, or the idea that “this won’t cost me much.” Wisdom doesn’t just protect your wallet or your reputation — it guards your heart, your future, and your soul.
Jesus invites us to walk in wisdom not to spoil our fun, but to save our lives. And even when we’ve messed up — big or small — He doesn’t leave us in our foolishness. He offers grace, course correction, and a better way forward. But Proverbs 6 is here to say: Let’s avoid the fire if we can. Life’s painful enough without adding more fuel to our own disaster.
So buckle up, pay attention, — because wisdom sometimes sounds like your friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth, even if it stings a little.
Warning Against Foolishness
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, 2 you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. 3 So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go–to the point of exhaustion– and give your neighbor no rest! 4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. 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, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest– 11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, 13 who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, 14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart–he always stirs up conflict. 15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed–without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 21 Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. 22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. 23 For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, 24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. 27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? 29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. 31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. 32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. 33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. 35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
