Study Desk

My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Or have given a handshake for a stranger,

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth, Or caught by the words of your mouth,

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

Then do this, my son, and save yourself: Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.

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.

Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids;

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meager.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

Do not abandon your friend or your father's friend, And do not go to your brother's house on the day of your disaster; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.

Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.