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Carefully Examine and Be Cautious about Your Vows

Proverbs 6:2 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
²if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,

If you are snared in the words of your mouth: A snare (יָקשׁ yaqosh) brings an animal into captivity, harm, or death when it is caught in them; therefore, snares can represent causes of one’s loss of freedom, or calamity, harm, or death. A servant of God must thoroughly examine each situation and be cautious about what securities, pledges, deals he chooses to make. Otherwise, he will find himself snared (trapped) in a situation, herein the repaying of the debt, from which escape may be very difficult or essentially impossible. – Prov. 6:1-3; 20:25.

Caught in the words of your mouth: This is repeated twice. Caught is similar to snared and renders a Hebrew verb (לָכַד lakad), which means to capture, seize, take that implies by force and is also used of catching something in a snare or trap.

We must be careful to scrutinize and be cautious before we make vows or guarantees so that we do not find ourselves entangled in a situation where getting out of it may be difficult or practically impossible. So, we need to be slow to get involved in any borrowing of money or business dealings, especially with strangers. Sure enough, the Israelites were to

Leviticus 25:35-38 Updated American Standard Version (UASV

Treatment of the Poor

³⁵“If your brother becomes poor and his hand slips with you,[1] you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. ³⁶Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. ³⁸I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

Then, some adventurous Israelites got engaged in risky business endeavors and acquired financial support by persuading others to ‘go surety’ for them, making them responsible for the debt. This sort of situation often arises today. Some have cosigned for others to get car loans, house loans, school loans because the other person is risky. If we do not know this person extremely well, it is foolish to take on such a responsibility thoughtlessly. This could entrap us financially for years to come, ruining our credit, maybe forcing us into bankruptcy. What happens if we find ourselves financially obligated for another? Do not be prideful nor shy about demanding accountability from the person we tried to help. We need to do all that we possibly can to make things right, even reporting it to the police if it had some scam elements to it.

[1] That is, he cannot financially support himself