- 1
- My sonne if thou be suretie for thy neyghbour, and hast fastened thyne hande for another man:
- 2
- Thou art bounde with thine owne wordes, and taken with thine owne speach.
- 3
- Therfore my sonne do this, and thou shalt be discharged: When thou art come into thy neyghbours daunger, go thy wayes then soone, humble thy selfe, and with thy frendes intreate [thy creditour.]
- 4
- Let not thyne eyes sleepe, nor thyne eye liddes slumber.
- 5
- Saue thy self as a Doe from the hand of the [hunter] and as a byrde from the hande of the fouler.
- 6
- Go to the emmet thou sluggarde, consider her wayes, and learne to be wyse:
- 7
- She hath no guyde, nor ouerseer, nor ruler,
- 8
- Yet in the sommer she prouideth her meate, and gathereth her foode together in the haruest.
- 9
- Howe long wylt thou sleepe thou sluggishe man?
When wylt thou aryse out of thy sleepe?
- 10
- Yea, sleepe on still a litle, slumber a litle, folde thyne handes together yet a litle that thou mayest sleepe:
- 11
- So shall pouertie come vnto thee as one that trauayleth by the way, and necessitie like a weaponed man.
- 12
- An vngodly person, a wicked man, goeth with a frowarde mouth.
- 13
- He winketh with his eyes, he tokeneth with his feete, he teacheth with his fingers.
- 14
- He is euer imagining mischiefe and frowardnes in his heart, and causeth discorde.
- 15
- Therefore shall his destruction come hastyly vpon hym, sodainly shall he be all to broken, and not be healed.
- 16
- These sixe thinges doth the Lorde hate, and the seuenth he vtterly abhorreth:
- 17
- A proude loke, a lying tongue, handes that shed innocent blood,
- 18
- An heart that goeth about wicked imaginations, feete that be swyft in running to mischiefe,
- 19
- A false witnesse that bringeth vp lyes, and hym that soweth discorde among brethren.
- 20
- My sonne, kepe thy fathers commaundement, and forsake not the lawe of thy mother:
- 21
- Tye them continually in thyne heart, and bynde them about thy necke.
- 22
- That shall leade thee when thou goest, preserue thee when thou art asleepe, and when thou awakest talke with thee.
- 23
- For the commaundement is a lanterne, and the lawe a light: yea chastening and nurture is the way of life:
- 24
- That they may kepe thee from the euyll woman, and from the flattering tongue of the straunge woman.
- 25
- Lust not after her beautie in thyne heart, lest thou be taken with her fayre lokes.
- 26
- By an harlot [a man is brought] to beg his bread, and a woman wyll hunte for the pretious life of man.
- 27
- May a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be brent?
- 28
- Or can one go vpon hotte coales, and his feete not be brent?
- 29
- Euen so, whosoeuer goeth in to his neyghbours wife and toucheth her, can not be vngiltie.
- 30
- Men do not vtterly despise a thiefe that stealeth to satisfie his soule, when he is hungrie:
- 31
- But if he may be gotten, he restoreth agayne seuen tymes as muche, or els he maketh recompence with all the good of his house.
- 32
- But whoso committeth adultrie with a woman, lacketh vnderstanding: and he that doth it, destroyeth his owne soule.
- 33
- He getteth him selfe a plague and dishonour, and his reproche shall neuer be put out:
- 34
- For the ielousie and wrath of the man wyll not be entreated,
- 35
- No though thou wouldest offer hym great gyftes to make amendes, he wyll not receaue them.
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