We will find and take all kinds of precious possessions,
We will fill our houses with spoil;

Do not devise evil against your neighbor,
Who lives securely beside you.

Take hold of instruction; [actively seek it, grip it firmly and] do not let go.
Guard her, for she is your life.

Her feet go down to death;
Her steps take hold of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),

And strangers will be filled with your strength
And your hard-earned wealth will go to the house of a foreigner [who does not know God];

Can a man take fire to his chest
And his clothes not be burned?

“Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us console and delight ourselves with love.

Suddenly he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter [not knowing the outcome],
Or as one in stocks going to the correction [to be given] to a fool,

Give instruction to a wise man and he will become even wiser;
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.

[The judge tells the creditor], “Take the clothes of one who is surety for a stranger;
And hold him in pledge [when he guarantees a loan] for foreigners.”

The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
And the treacherous in the place of the upright [for they fall into their own traps].

If you have nothing with which to pay [another’s debt when he defaults],
Why should his creditor take your bed from under you?

Take away the dross from the silver,
And there comes out [the pure metal for] a vessel for the silversmith [to shape].

Take away the wicked from before the king,
And his throne will be established in righteousness.

Like a dog that returns to his vomit
Is a fool who repeats his foolishness.

Like one who grabs a dog by the ears [and is likely to be bitten]
Is he who, passing by, stops to meddle with a dispute that is none of his business.

[The judge tells the creditor,] “Take the garment of one who is surety (guarantees a loan) for a stranger;
And hold him in pledge when he is surety for an immoral woman [for it is unlikely the debt will be repaid].”

Every word of God is tested and refined [like silver];
He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him.