My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
- KJV My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
- NKJV My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
- NASB My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Or have given a handshake for a stranger,
- NLT My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If you have put up surety for your neighbor or pledged for a stranger, take warning. Rash financial guarantees can ensnare you.
Overview
Chapter 6 opens with practical counsel against the danger of co-signing or pledging security for another's debt, especially carelessly for a stranger. Such commitments can place one under another's power and lead to ruin (vv. 2-5 urge escaping the trap). Wisdom counsels prudence and caution in financial obligations, reflecting the broader scriptural call to act with foresight and generosity without folly (Prov 11:15; 22:26-27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 17:18A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.
- Prov 22:26Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
- Prov 11:15He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.
- Prov 20:16Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
- Gen 43:9I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.
- Gen 44:32–33Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
- Job 17:3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
- Prov 27:13Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
- Phlm 1:18–19But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account.
- Heb 7:22Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 6:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.