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Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

Proverbs 6


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1My child, if you have gone surety for your neighbour, if you have guaranteed the bond of a stranger,2if you have committed yourself with your lips, if through words of yours you have been entrapped,3do this, my child, to extricate yourself -- since you have put yourself in the power of your neighbour: go,humble yourself, plead with your neighbour,4give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no rest,5break free like a gazel e from the trap, like a bird from the fowler's clutches.6Idler, go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise:7no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master,8yet al through the summer she gets her food ready, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.9How long do you intend to lie there, idler? When are you going to rise from your sleep?10A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back,11and poverty comes like a vagrant and, like a beggar, dearth.12A scoundrel, a vicious man, he goes with a leer on his lips,13winking his eye, shuffling his foot, beckoning with his finger.14Trickery in his heart, always scheming evil, he sows dissension.15Disaster wil overtake him sharply for this, suddenly, irretrievably, he wil be broken.16There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that he abhors:17a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,18a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil,19a false witness who lies with every breath, and one who sows dissension among brothers.20Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.21Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.22While you are active, they will guide you, when you fal asleep, they wil watch over you, when youwake up, they will converse with you.23For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,24preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs toanother.25Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes;26a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.27Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight?28Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet?29Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbour's wife: no one who touches her wil get offunpunished.30People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger;31yet even he, if caught, wil have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.32But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction.33All he wil get is blows and contempt, and dishonour never to be blotted out.34For jealousy inflames the husband who wil show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;35he wil not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he wil not be placated.