1   My sonne, ^note if thou shalt be suretie for thy freind, and hast made fast thy hand to a stranger,

2   thou art entrapped with the wordes of thy mouth, & caught with thyne owne wordes.

3   Doe therefore my sonne that which I say, and deliuer thyselfe, because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Runne diuers wayes, make hast, rayse thy freind:

4   Geue not sleepe to thine eies, neither let thine eieliddes slumber.

5   Deliuer thyselfe as a litle doa from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6   Goe to the emmote ô sluggard, and consider her wayes, and lerne wisdom.

7   Who wheras she hath no guide, nor master, nor captaine,

8   prepareth meate for herselfe in the summer, and gethereth in the haruest for to eate

9   How long wilt thou sleepe ô sluggard? when wilt thou rise out of thy sleepe?

10   Thou shalt sleepe a litle, a litle shalt thou slumber, a litle shalt thou ioyne thy handes to sleepe:

11   and penurie shal come to thee, as a wayfaring man, and pouertie as a man armed. But if thou be not sluggish, thy haruest shal come as a fountaine, and penurie shal flee farre from thee.

12   A man that is an ^note Apostata, a man vnprofitable, goeth with peruerse mouth,

13   winketh with the eies, treadeth with the foote, speaketh with the finger,

14   with wicked hart he deuiseth euil, and at al time he soweth brawles.

15   To him his destruction shal come forthwith, and he shal sodenlie be destroyed, neither shal he haue remedie any more.

16   Six thinges there are, which our Lord hateth, and the seuenth his soule detesteth:

17   Loftie eies, a

lying tongue, handes that shede innocent bloud,

18   a hart that deuiseth most wicked deuises, feete swift to runne into euil,

19   deceitful witnesse that vttereth lies, and him that among brether ^note soweth discordes.

20   My sonne keepe the preceptes of thy father, and leaue not the lawe of thy mother.

21   Bynde them in thy hart continualy, and put them about thy throte.

22   When thou shalt walke, let them goe with thee: when thou shalt sleepe, let them kepe thee, and awaking talke with them.

23   Because the commandment is a lampe, and the lawe a light, and the way of life the increpation of discipline:

24   that they may kepe thee from the euil woman, and from the faire spoken tongue of the stranger.

25   Let not thy hart couet her beautie, be not caught with her beckes:

26   for the price of an harlot is scarse worth one loafe: but a woman catcheth the precious soule of man.

27    ^noteCan a man hide fyre in his bosome, that his garmentes burne not?

28   Or walke vpon hote coales, that his soales be not burnt?

29   so he that goeth in vnto his neighbours wife, shal not be cleane when he shal touche her.

30   It is ^note no greate fault, when a man shal haue stollen: for he stealeth to fil his hungrie soule:

31   also being taken he shal restore seuenfold, and shal geue vp al the substance of his house.

32   But he that is an aduouterer, for penurie of hart shal destroy his owne soule:

33   shame and ignominie he gethereth to himsefe, & his reproch shal not be blotted out.

34   Because the zele and furie of the husband wil not spare in the day of reuenge,

35   neither wil he yeld to any mans prayers, neither wil he take for redemption verie many giftes.

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