Proverbs 23
1 If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,
2 and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
4 If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
5 If you should fix your eye upon him, he will disappear; for wings like an eagle's are prepared for him, and he returns to the house of his master.
When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
7 so he eats and drinks as if any one should swallow a hair, and do not bring him in to yourself, nor eat your morsel with him:
for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
16 and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
18 For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
22 Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
26 [My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
29 Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Are not those of them that stay long at wine? [are] not [those] of them that haunt [the places] where banquets are? Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse [with them] openly.
Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
31 For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 But at last [such a one] stretches himself out as one struck by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.
In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33 Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
34 And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
35 And you shall say, They struck me, and I was not pained; and they mocked me, and I knew it not: when will it be morning, that I may go and seek those with whom I may go in company?
“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
