They mixed in with the nations and learned their ways. ¹ 

Guarantee the welfare of your servant! ¹  Do not let the arrogant oppress me!

Do not be one who strikes hands in pledge or who puts up security for debts.

Make then my pledge ¹  with you. Who else will put up security for me? ² 

My child, ²  if you have made a pledge ³  for your neighbor, and ⁴  have become a guarantor ⁵  for a stranger, ⁶ 

The one who puts up security for a stranger ¹  will surely have trouble, ²  but whoever avoids ³  shaking hands ⁴  will be secure.

The heart knows its own bitterness, ¹  and with its joy no one else ²  can share. ³ 

Take a man’s ¹  garment ²  when he has given security for a stranger, ³  and when he gives surety for strangers, ⁴  hold him ⁵  in pledge.

The one who goes about gossiping ¹  reveals secrets; therefore do not associate ²  with someone who is always opening his mouth. ³ 

Take a man’s ¹  garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for a stranger, ²  hold him in pledge. ³ 

There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.”

The one who lacks wisdom ¹  strikes hands in pledge, ²  and puts up financial security ³  for his neighbor. ⁴ 

Fear the Lord, my child, ¹  as well as the king, and do not associate ²  with rebels, ³ 

I myself pledge security ¹  for him; you may hold me liable. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. ² 

Indeed, ¹  your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’

Now make a deal ¹  with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo ¹  like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ²  O sovereign master, ³  I am oppressed; help me! ⁴ 

The elders of Gebal ¹  and her skilled men were within you, mending cracks; ²  all the ships of the sea and their mariners were within you to trade for your merchandise. ³