My son, if you become surety for your friend, [If] you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand [of the hunter,] And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge, [And] becomes surety for his friend.

Take the garment of one who is surety [for] a stranger, And hold it as a pledge [when it] is for a seductress.

Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, One of those who is surety for debts;

If you have nothing [with which] to pay, Why should he take away your bed from under you?