Proverbs 6 is the most topically diverse chapter in the book's first nine chapters, addressing four distinct subjects: the danger of guaranteeing a neighbor's debt (vv1-5), the lesson of the ant for the sluggard (vv6-11), the profile of the worthless troublemaker (vv12-15), the seven things the LORD detests (vv16-19), and a renewed warning against adultery (vv20-35). The chapter reads like a wisdom handbook, moving from financial prudence to work ethic to character assessment to moral absolutes to sexual fidelity.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The numerical proverb in verses 16-19 — 'six things the LORD hates, seven are detestable to Him' — is among the most theologically compressed passages in the Hebrew Bible. The ascending number pattern (six... seven) is a common ancient Near Eastern rhetorical device that signals the final item as the climax. The list moves from body parts to social effects: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that rush to evil, a false witness, and the one who sows discord among brothers. The climax is not violence or lying but the fracturing of community. For Proverbs, nothing is worse than destroying the unity of brothers. The ant passage (vv6-11) is notable for its implicit theology: the ant needs no commander, overseer, or ruler — it acts from internal wisdom. The sluggard, by contrast, has been given instruction and still refuses to act.
Translation Friction
The surety passage (vv1-5) reflects an economic context where personal guarantees could result in debt slavery. The advice to extract yourself immediately — 'like a gazelle from a hunter's hand' — may seem harsh toward the neighbor whose debt you guaranteed, but in the ancient world, financial overcommitment could destroy an entire household. The adultery passage (vv25-35) focuses almost entirely on the consequences for the male adulterer, including the jealous husband's rage. The woman is described primarily as a temptation, and the offended husband's fury is presented without critique. The text assumes a patriarchal legal framework in which adultery is primarily an offense against another man's household.
Connections
The 'seven detestable things' list connects to the broader biblical pattern of numbered proverbs (Proverbs 30:15-31, Amos 1-2). The ant imagery has parallels in Egyptian wisdom literature. The adultery warning (vv20-35) extends the theme from chapter 5 and sets up the dramatic narrative of chapter 7. The body-parts progression in verses 16-19 (eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet) connects to the body-parts instruction in 4:23-27 (heart, mouth, eyes, feet).
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have pledged yourself to a stranger with a handshake,
KJV My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Aravta ('you have become surety, you have pledged') describes the act of guaranteeing another person's debt. Taqa'ta kappekha ('you have struck your hands') is the ancient equivalent of a handshake or contract — the physical gesture that seals a financial commitment. The urgency of what follows suggests that this pledge was impulsive and dangerous.
you have been snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your mouth.
KJV Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Noqashta ('you have been ensnared') and nilkadta ('you have been caught, captured') describe the pledge-maker as a trapped animal. The trap is imre fikha ('the words of your mouth') — your own speech has bound you. The repetition of the phrase emphasizes that the son's own words are the cage.
Do this then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have fallen into your neighbor's hand:
go, humble yourself, and press your neighbor urgently.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The escape plan requires two actions: hitrappes ('humble yourself, prostrate yourself, trample on your own pride') and rehav ('press urgently, storm, importune'). The first demands the surrender of dignity; the second demands aggressive persistence. Both are preferable to remaining trapped in a bad financial commitment.
Do not give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
KJV Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The urgency forbids rest: no shenah ('sleep') and no tenumah ('slumber, dozing'). The financial trap must be resolved immediately — every hour of delay increases the danger.
Free yourself like a gazelle from a hunter's hand,
like a bird from the fowler's grip.
KJV Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The escape metaphors — tsevi ('gazelle') and tsippor ('bird') — emphasize speed and desperation. Both animals survive only by immediate, total flight. The yaqush ('fowler, bird-catcher') is the one who sets traps; the surety-giver has walked into one and must escape with the same urgency as prey fleeing a predator.
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
observe her ways and become wise.
KJV Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
עָצֵלatsel
"sluggard"—sluggard, lazy person, one who is slack, idle; someone who avoids effort through excuse-making
The atsel in Proverbs is a comic and tragic figure — comic because his excuses are absurd ('there is a lion in the road!' 22:13), tragic because his inaction destroys him. The sluggard's problem is not inability but unwillingness.
Translator Notes
The atsel ('sluggard') is a distinctive Proverbs character who appears repeatedly (6:6, 9; 10:26; 13:4; 15:19; 19:24; 20:4; 21:25; 22:13; 24:30-34; 26:13-16). The sluggard is not merely tired but characterized by a particular kind of self-deception: always having a reason not to act.
Proverbs 6:7
אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֵֽין־לָ֥הּ קָצִ֗ין שֹׁטֵ֥ר וּמֹשֵֽׁל׃
She has no commander,
no overseer, and no ruler,
KJV Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three terms of authority — qatsin ('commander, chief'), shoter ('overseer, officer'), and moshel ('ruler') — are absent from the ant's life. She needs no external management. The implied rebuke is sharp: the sluggard has father, teacher, and wisdom tradition — far more guidance than the ant — and still does less.
yet she prepares her food in summer
and gathers her provisions at harvest.
KJV Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ant's two actions — takhin ('she prepares, she establishes') in summer and agrah ('she gathers, she stores') at harvest — demonstrate foresight. She works when conditions allow in order to survive when they do not. The sluggard fails precisely at this point: he cannot connect present effort to future need.
How long will you lie there, sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
KJV How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ad matay ('how long?') directed at the sluggard echoes Wisdom's own ad matay in 1:22. The question implies that the sluggard's sleep is not rest but evasion — he lies in bed to avoid the demands of the day.
'A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest' —
KJV Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sluggard's own voice appears in quotation: me'at shenot ('a little sleep'), me'at tenumot ('a little slumber'), me'at chibbuq yadayim ('a little folding of the hands'). The triple me'at ('a little, just a bit') is the sluggard's self-deception — each delay is small, but they accumulate into destruction. The charm of the passage is that the sluggard never asks for much; he just asks for it perpetually.
and poverty will come upon you like a prowler,
and your need like an armed man.
KJV So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Poverty (reshekha, 'your poverty') arrives kimhalekh ('like a traveler, like a prowler') — it approaches gradually, on foot, then suddenly it is at the door. Need (machsorekha, 'your lack') arrives ke-ish magen ('like a man with a shield, like an armed man') — by then it is a warrior you cannot fight off. The progression from quiet approach to armed assault captures how poverty works: it creeps before it conquers.
A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech.
KJV A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Adam beliyya'al ('a person of worthlessness, a person of Belial') and ish aven ('a man of iniquity, a man of trouble'). Beliyya'al may derive from beli ('without') and ya'al ('profit, worth') — a person of no value. The troublemaker's primary tool is iqqeshut peh ('crookedness of mouth') — perverted, twisted speech.
He winks with his eyes,
signals with his feet,
points with his fingers.
KJV He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three body parts used for covert communication: eyes that qorets ('wink, pinch shut'), feet that molel ('scrape, shuffle, signal'), and fingers that moreh ('point, teach, direct'). The troublemaker communicates through a private language of gestures — he conspires in plain sight using signals his targets cannot read.
Perversity fills his heart;
he devises evil at all times
and sows discord.
KJV Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Tahpukhot ('perversities, things turned upside down') are in his lev ('heart') — the command center is corrupted. He choresh ra ('plows evil, devises harm') at all times and yeshalle'ach midyanim ('sends out, dispatches strife'). The verb shalach ('send') with midyanim ('conflicts, disputes') presents discord as something deliberately launched, not accidentally caused.
Therefore disaster will come on him suddenly;
in an instant he will be shattered beyond healing.
KJV Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Pit'om ('suddenly') and peta ('in an instant') — the same suddenness the troublemaker used against others now strikes him. His eido ('his disaster, his calamity') arrives without warning, and he yisshaver ('will be shattered, broken') ve-ein marpe ('and there is no healing, no remedy'). The sowing of discord produces a harvest of irreversible destruction.
Six things the LORD hates;
seven are detestable to Him:
KJV These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ascending numerical pattern (x... x+1) is found throughout the ancient Near East, from Ugaritic poetry to Amos's oracles against the nations. It creates anticipation: the hearer knows the final item will be the most important.
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
KJV A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The list begins with three body parts: eynayim ramot ('eyes that are high, haughty, arrogant'), leshon shaqer ('a tongue of falsehood'), and yadayim shofkhot dam naqi ('hands pouring out innocent blood'). Eyes, tongue, hands — perception, speech, action, each corrupted. The dam naqi ('innocent blood') echoes the gratuitous violence of 1:11.
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that rush to run toward evil,
KJV An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The list continues with heart (lev choresh machshevot aven, 'a heart plowing wicked plans') and feet (raglayim memaharot laruts lara'ah, 'feet hastening to run to evil'). The inward source (heart devising) produces the outward result (feet running). The verb charah ('to plow, to devise') applied to the heart shows that evil is cultivated, not accidental.
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
KJV A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb yafiach ('breathes out, blows') applied to lies makes falsehood involuntary and constant — the false witness does not decide to lie; he exhales lies. The placement of the discord-sower at the climax of a list that includes murder reveals Proverbs' communal priorities: fracturing brotherhood is worse than shedding blood.
Guard, my son, your father's command,
and do not forsake your mother's instruction.
KJV My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The instruction from 1:8 returns nearly verbatim, reopening the parental instruction format for the adultery warning. The mother's torah stands in equal authority with the father's mitsvah.
Bind them on your heart continually;
tie them around your neck.
KJV Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The binding imagery from 3:3 continues the Deuteronomic echo (Deuteronomy 6:8). The instructions must be physically attached — tamid ('continually, always') — to the heart and neck. The repetition of this imagery throughout the opening chapters creates a cumulative insistence: wear wisdom like clothing.
When you walk, it will lead you;
when you lie down, it will watch over you;
and when you wake, it will speak with you.
KJV When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three life-moments — walking, sleeping, waking — are all covered by parental instruction personified. It tancheh ('will lead, will guide'), tishmor ('will guard, will watch over'), and tesichekha ('will speak with you, will converse with you'). The instruction becomes a companion that is never absent — a guide on the road, a guardian in sleep, a conversation partner at dawn.
For the command is a lamp and instruction is a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life —
KJV For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Mitsvah as ner ('lamp') and torah as or ('light') connect to the dawn imagery of 4:18. Instruction illuminates what darkness hides. The tokhechot musar ('reproofs of discipline') — the corrections that hurt — are derekh chayyim ('the way of life'). The road to life runs through correction, not around it.
to guard you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the outsider.
KJV To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The lamp/light of instruction (v23) serves a specific protective function: guarding from the eshet ra ('evil woman, woman of harm') and from chelqat leshon nokhriiyyah ('the smoothness of the tongue of the foreign woman'). The same chelqah ('smoothness') from 5:3 returns — her weapon is always her speech.
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelids.
KJV Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb tachmod ('desire, covet') is the same verb from the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17). The adultery warning is grounded in the Decalogue — to desire the forbidden woman is to covet. Her af'appeiha ('her eyelids,' poetic for her glances) are the instruments of capture. Desire begins in the heart (bilevavekha) before it reaches the body.
For a prostitute reduces a man to a loaf of bread,
but a married woman hunts for a precious life.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Two categories are distinguished: the ishah zonah ('prostitute') costs you economically — she reduces a man ad kikkar lachem ('to a round of bread,' that is, to poverty). But the eshet ish ('wife of a man, married woman') does something worse: she tatsud ('hunts, stalks') a nefesh yeqarah ('a precious life, a valuable soul'). The prostitute takes your money; the adulteress takes your life.
Can a man carry fire against his chest
without his clothes being burned?
KJV Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The first of two rhetorical questions with obvious answers. Fire (esh) against the cheq ('chest, bosom, lap') will burn the begadav ('his garments'). The question expects no answer because the answer is self-evident. Adultery is like carrying fire — the burning is not a possibility but a certainty.
Can a man walk on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
KJV Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The second question intensifies: gechalim ('hot coals, embers') under the raglav ('his feet'). The answer, again, is obvious. The fire metaphor makes adultery a question of physics, not merely morality — consequences follow as inevitably as burns follow fire.
So it is with the man who goes to his neighbor's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
KJV So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The application is direct: haba el eshet re'ehu ('the one who goes to his neighbor's wife') will lo yinnaqeh ('not be held innocent, not go unpunished'). The verb naqah ('to be clean, to be innocent, to be acquitted') in the negative means there is no escape from consequences. Kol hanoge'a bah ('everyone who touches her') extends the warning to any degree of involvement.
People do not despise a thief
if he steals to fill his stomach when he is hungry,
KJV Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
A surprising comparison begins: theft from hunger receives understanding, not contempt. The lo yavuzu ('they do not despise') shows that the community recognizes the mitigating force of genuine need.
but if caught, he must repay sevenfold;
he must hand over all the wealth of his house.
KJV But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Even the understood thief faces consequences: shiv'atayim ('sevenfold') restitution, potentially kol hon beito ('all the wealth of his house'). The sevenfold payment exceeds the Mosaic requirement (Exodus 22:1-4 specifies four- or fivefold) and may represent a general idiom for complete restitution.
But the one who commits adultery lacks sense;
whoever does it destroys himself.
KJV But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The comparison's point: theft from hunger is understandable but still costly. Adultery is not even understandable — it is chasar lev ('lacking heart, lacking sense'). There is no mitigating circumstance. The no'ef ('adulterer') is mashchit nafsho ('destroying his own soul, ruining himself'). The destruction is self-inflicted.
He will find wounds and disgrace,
and his shame will not be wiped away.
KJV A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Nega ('wound, blow, plague') and qalon ('disgrace, shame') — physical and social consequences. The cherpato ('his reproach, his disgrace') lo timmacheh ('will not be blotted out, erased'). Unlike the thief who can repay and restore his standing, the adulterer's reputation is permanently damaged.
For jealousy is a husband's fury,
and he will show no mercy on the day of revenge.
KJV For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Qin'ah ('jealousy, zeal, passionate anger') is chamat gaver ('the rage of a man, a husband's fury'). The gaver is the offended husband whose wife has been taken. His jealousy will not yachmol ('show mercy, spare, have compassion') on the yom naqam ('day of vengeance, day of retribution'). The social consequences of adultery include facing the wrath of a man with every reason to destroy you.
He will not accept any compensation;
he will not be willing, no matter how large the bribe.
KJV He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Unlike the thief's debt, which can be repaid (v31), the adulterer's offense is beyond financial resolution. Lo yissa pene khol kofer ('he will not lift the face of any ransom') — no payment will satisfy the husband. Lo yoveh ki tarbeh shochad ('he will not consent though you multiply the bribe'). Money cannot purchase forgiveness for this offense. The adultery sequence ends where it began: with consequences that are as certain as fire and as inescapable as debt.