Proverbs 6:2

6:1-5 If we live as directed by the word of God, we shall find it profitable even in this present world. We are stewards of our worldly substance, and have to answer to the Lord for our disposal of it; to waste it in rash schemes, or such plans as may entangle us in difficulties and temptations, is wrong. A man ought never to be surety for more than he is able and willing to pay, and can afford to pay, without wronging his family; he ought to look upon every sum he is engaged for, as his own debt. If we must take all this care to get our debts to men forgiven, much more to obtain forgiveness with God. Humble thyself to him, make sure of Christ as thy Friend, to plead for thee; pray earnestly that thy sins may be pardoned, and that thou mayest be kept from going down to the pit.

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,.... Got into a snare out of which an escape is not easy; art no longer free, and thine own man, but under obligation to pay the debt if required; by the verbal agreement made and confirmed by striking hands, and this before witnesses; thou art taken with the words of thy mouth; as in a net, and held fast therein and thereby, and cannot get loose without paying the debt, if the debtor does not, or without the leave of the creditor.

CHAPTER 6 Pr 6:1-35. After admonitions against suretyship and sloth (compare Pr 6:6-8), the character and fate of the wicked generally are set forth, and the writer (Pr 6:20-35) resumes the warnings against incontinence, pointing out its certain and terrible results. This train of thought seems to intimate the kindred of these vices. 1, 2. if—The condition extends through both verses. be surety—art pledged. stricken … hand—bargained (compare Job 17:3). with a stranger—that is, for a friend (compare Pr 11:15; 17:18).

Verse 2. - Thou art snared with the words of thy month, etc.; i.e. the inevitable consequence of an inconsiderate undertaking of suretyship is that you become entangled and involved by your own premises, and hampered by self-imposed obligations. The Authorized Version rightly regards this as the conclusion. So the Vulgate. Others, however, carry on the hypothesis, and insert im , "if:" "If thou art snared," etc.; but without warrant (Zockler, Wordsworth, Plumptre). The LXX. throws the thought into the form of a proverb, as "a strong net to a man are his own words." A distinction is to be drawn between the verbs rendered "entangled" and "taken;" the former, yakosh , signifying to be taken unwarily, off one's guard; the latter, lakad , referring, as before observed (cf. Proverbs 5:22 ), to the being stricken with the net. They are found in the same collocation in Isaiah 8:15 , "Many among them shall be snared and taken." The repetition of the phrase, "with the words of thy mouth," is not unintentional or purely rhetorical. It is made, as Delitzsch observes, to bring with greater force to the mind that the entanglements in which the surety is involved are the result of his own indiscretion. Proverbs 6:2

The author warns against suretyship; or rather, he advises that if one has made himself surety, he should as quickly as possible withdraw from the snare. 1 My son, if thou hast become surety for thy neighbour, Hast given thy hand for another: 2 Thou art entangled in the words of thy mouth, Ensnared in the words of thy mouth. 3 Do this then, my son, and free thyself - For thou hast come under the power of thy neighbour - Go, instantly entreat and importune thy neighbour. 4 Give no sleep to thine eyes, And no slumber to thine eyelids; 5 Tear thyself free like a gazelle from his hand, And as a bird from the hand of the fowler. The chief question here is, whether ל after ערב introduces him for whom or with whom one becomes surety. Elsewhere ערב (R. רב, whence also ארב, nectere, to twist close and compact) with the accusative of the person means to become surety for any one, to represent him as a surety, Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 20:16 (Proverbs 27:13), Genesis 43:9; Genesis 44:33 (as with the accusative of the matter, to pledge anything, to deposit it as a pledge, Jeremiah 30:21; Nehemiah 5:3, equals שׂים, Arab. waḍ'a, Job 17:3); and to become surety with any one is expressed, Genesis 17:18, by ערב לפני. The phrase ערב ל is not elsewhere met with, and is thus questionable.

If we look to Proverbs 6:3, the רע (רעה) mentioned there cannot possibly be the creditor with whom one has become surety, for so impetuous and urgent an application to him would be both purposeless and unbecoming. But if he is meant for whom one has become surety, then certainly לרעך is also to be understood of the same person, and ל is thus dat. commodi; similar to this is the Targumic ערבוּתא על, suretyship for any one, Proverbs 17:18; Proverbs 22:26. But is the זר, 1b, distinguished from רעך, the stranger with whom one has become surety? The parallels Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 20:16, where זר denotes the person whom one represents, show that in both lines one and the same person is meant; זר is in the Proverbs equivalent to אחר, each different from the person in the discourse, Proverbs 5:17; Proverbs 27:2 - thus, like רעך, denotes not the friend, but generally him to whom one stands in any kind of relation, even a very external one, in a word, the fellow-creatures or neighbours, Proverbs 24:28 (cf. the Arab. sahbk and ḳarynk, which are used as vaguely and superficially). It is further a question, whether we have to explain 1b: if thou hast given thine hand to another, or for another.

[Bible] 6:1. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger, 6:2. Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy own words. 6:3. Do, therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste, stir up thy friend: 6:4. Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber. 6:5. Deliver thyself as a doe from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6:6. Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom: 6:7. Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain, 6:8. Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 6:9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 6:10. Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep: 6:11. And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee. 6:12. A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth, 6:13. He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with the finger. 6:14. With a wicked heart he deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth discord. 6:15. To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy. 6:16. Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: 6:17. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 6:18. A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, 6:19. A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren. 6:20. My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. 6:21. Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck.

[Bible] 5:5. Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell. 5:6. They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable. 5:7. Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 5:8. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house. 5:9. Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel. 5:10. Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house, 5:11. And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say; 5:12. Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof, 5:13. And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters? 5:14. I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation. 5:15. Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well: 5:16. Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters. 5:17. Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee. 5:18. Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth: 5:19. Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love. 5:20. Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another? 5:21. The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps. 5:22. His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins. 5:23. He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived. Proverbs Chapter 6 Documents on several heads. 6:1. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger, 6:2. Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy own words.