Proverbs 20:16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

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To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.

Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.

For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.

Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

My child, if you have given your pledge to your neighbor, if you have bound yourself to another,

Then a woman comes toward him decked out like a prostitute, with hidden intent.

that they may keep you from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.