Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;
When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
2 put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
5 Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.
6 Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,
Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
Because like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.
8 You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
9 Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.
For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.
My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear the LORD all day long.
Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
20 Don’t be amongst ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat;
Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful amongst men.
She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.
35 “They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.”
And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?
