My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
Proverbs 6:1-35.-Warning against suretiship (Proverbs 6:1-5); against indolence, by the example of the ant (Proverbs 6:6-11); against crafty mischievousness (Proverbs 6:12-15); against seven things hateful to the Lord (Proverbs 6:16-19); against contact with a whorish woman (Proverbs 6:24-25); prefaced by an introductory setting forth of the blessedness of obeying the commandment, and what it can do for the young in going, sleeping, and waking (Proverbs 6:20-23).
My son, if thou surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger - if thou hast given thy promise, by giving the hand, to be responsible for a stranger. The allusion is to the custom of the surety putting his hand with a quick movement and a clap into the hand of the creditor. "Thy friend" is used in a wide sense, as the parallel, "a stranger," shows. Kabvenaki (in 'Poli. Synopsis') thinks that "thy friend" is the same as "a stranger." He who had been a professed friend, after thou hast become surety for him, becomes estranged from thee, owing to the disagreements which often arise in such money matters. Since the same Hebrew preposition lª- in before both nouns "for thy friend" - `for (the English version, with) a stranger,' we cannot translate, 'If thou be surety to a friend-for a stranger,' (as Bayne) - nor 'for a friend-to a stranger' (as Mercer, Gejer; so Arabic, Chaldaic, Vulgate, Syriac, Septuagint Compare Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 22:26). Next after unchastity, youths need to be warned against ruinous improvidence and rashness in incurring obligations which they find it hard to fulfill consistently with honesty and due regard to their own and their families' interests (1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Timothy 5:8). This precept does not forbid suretiship in cases where charity and brotherly kindness dictate it (cf. Genesis 42:37; Genesis 43:9). It only forbids such suretiship as is without a due regard to one's self, to him for whom you are surety, and to the other party to whom you make yourself bound.