6.1 My son, if you have become surety for your neighbour, have given your pledge for a stranger; if you are snared in the utterance of your lips, caught in the words of your mouth; then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into your neighbour's power: go, hasten, and importune your neighbour.

Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

As you begin to look afresh at your life in the light of wisdom, are there any mistakes you can immediately correct, before they go from bad to worse? For example, if you have foolishly entered into some kind of unwise agreement, especially if you have accepted liability for someone else’s actions or debt, then humble yourself, swallow your pride says Solomon, and go and plead to get it canceled.

Don’t be afraid of looking stupid or showing your emotions and pleading. Struggle for all you are worth, like a deer or a bird caught in a trap, and try to escape. Do it today! Don’t wait until tomorrow. Deliver yourself from the trap now.

6.2 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer or ruler, she prepares her food in summer, and gathers her sustenance in harvest.

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a bandit, and want like an armed man.

One of the fundamentals of wisdom is diligence, industriousness, the will to work. The ant, Solomon observed, is a self-starter and needs no manager to keep it on task. Notice also the importance of timing, of taking advantage of opportunities before they pass. When summer is gone, it is too later. Do you identify specific goals and opportunities, like the ant, and work diligently to achieve them?

Are you denying yourself success, like a lazy farmer who procrastinates and lets the harvest rot and perish in the autumn rain, when no amount of effort can redeem the situation? He has in effect robbed himself, as surely as if a bandit had held him up on the way to the bank.

There are different kinds of people, individuals who have developed deeply ingrained behavior patterns, some good and some bad. Solomon speaks of the wise, the fool, the diligent, the sluggard – and, here in particular, the schemer -- the worthless person who is always looking for deceitful get-rich-quick schemes, ways of tricking and exploiting other people and making money without working, without making a worthwhile contribution to society. Sooner or later, calamity will come on him.

How would you describe your dominant traits and attitudes, and do they need to be changed? These are matters of fundamental concern.

Once again, what kind of people have we let ourselves become? Wisdom requires self-examination, change and improvement, and Solomon offers here a sad catalog of common character traits that need recognizing and rooting out.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

6.5 My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart always; tie them about your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

The Ten Commandments are the foundation of a strong, happy, prosperous and crime-free society and should be taught to our children. Many people think they can lie, steal and commit adultery with impunity, but they are sadly mistaken. The Law of God is like a lamp that shines out a powerful beam of light into a darkened world, showing us the best way to go and helping us avoid the hazards that lurk all around us. Learn those laws, says Solomon, get them into your heart, your inner being, and live by them.

Solomon returns yet again to the subject of sex, which seems to dominant modern life – TV, films, newspapers and magazines -- as the world moves from narrow-minded ignorance to broad-minded ignorance. Now he takes his warning against adultery one step further – urging us to consider the full consequences of our actions. A man can purchase the services of a prostitute relatively cheaply, but no amount of money can buy off and appease a husband whose wife has been unfaithful, and his jealous fury may move him to revenge, even murder.