Proverbs 23
1 When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
Uketipo kula chakula na mtawala, angalia vyema kile kilicho mbele yako,
2 and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
na utie kisu kooni mwako kama ukiwa mlafi.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
Usitamani vyakula vyake vitamu kwa kuwa chakula hicho ni cha hila.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
Usijitaabishe ili kuupata utajiri, uwe na hekima kuonyesha kujizuia.
5 Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.
Kufumba na kufumbua utajiri hutoweka, huwa kama umepata mabawa ghafula, ukaruka na kutoweka angani kama tai.
6 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
Usile chakula cha mtu mchoyo, usitamani vyakula vyake vitamu,
7 For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.
kwa maana yeye ni aina ya mtu ambaye kila mara anafikiri juu ya gharama. Anakuambia, “Kula na kunywa,” lakini moyo wake hauko pamoja nawe.
8 The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
Utatapika kile kidogo ulichokula, nawe utakuwa umepoteza bure maneno yako ya kumsifu.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
Usizungumze na mpumbavu, kwa maana atadhihaki hekima ya maneno yako.
10 Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
Usisogeze jiwe la mpaka wa zamani wala kunyemelea kwenye mashamba ya yatima,
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
kwa kuwa Mtetezi wao ni mwenye nguvu, atalichukua shauri lao dhidi yako.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
Elekeza moyo wako kwenye mafundisho na masikio yako kwenye maneno ya maarifa.
13 Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Usimnyime mtoto adhabu, ukimwadhibu kwa fimbo, hatakufa.
Mwadhibu kwa fimbo na kuiokoa nafsi yake kutoka mautini. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
Mwanangu, kama moyo wako una hekima, basi moyo wangu utafurahi,
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
utu wangu wa ndani utafurahi, wakati midomo yako itakapozungumza lililo sawa.
17 Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
Usiuruhusu moyo wako kuwaonea wivu wenye dhambi, bali kila mara uwe na bidii katika kumcha Bwana.
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
Hakika kuna tumaini la baadaye kwa ajili yako, nalo tarajio lako halitakatiliwa mbali.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
Sikiliza, mwanangu na uwe na hekima, weka moyo wako kwenye njia iliyo sawa.
20 Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
Usiwe miongoni mwa wanywao mvinyo, au wale walao nyama kwa pupa,
21 For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
kwa maana walevi na walafi huwa maskini, nako kusinzia huwavika matambara.
22 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
Msikilize baba yako, aliyekuzaa, wala usimdharau mama yako atakapokuwa mzee.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
Nunua kweli wala usiiuze, pata hekima, adabu na ufahamu.
24 The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
Baba wa mwenye haki ana furaha kubwa, naye aliye na mwana mwenye hekima humfurahia.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
Baba yako na mama yako na wafurahi, mama aliyekuzaa na ashangilie!
26 My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
Mwanangu, nipe moyo wako, macho yako na yafuate njia zangu,
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
kwa maana kahaba ni shimo refu na mwanamke mpotovu ni kisima chembamba.
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
Kama mnyangʼanyi, hungojea akivizia, naye huzidisha wasio waaminifu miongoni mwa wanaume.
29 Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
Ni nani mwenye ole? Ni nani mwenye huzuni? Ni nani mwenye ugomvi? Ni nani mwenye malalamiko? Ni nani aliye na majeraha yasiyo na sababu? Ni nani mwenye macho mekundu?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
Ni hao wakaao sana kwenye mvinyo, hao waendao kuonja mabakuli ya mvinyo uliochanganywa.
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
Usiukodolee macho mvinyo wakati ukiwa mwekundu, wakati unapometameta kwenye bilauri, wakati ushukapo taratibu!
32 but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
Mwishowe huuma kama nyoka na kutia sumu yake kama nyoka mwenye sumu.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
Macho yako yataona mambo mageni na moyo wako kuwazia mambo yaliyopotoka.
34 And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.
Utakuwa kama alalaye katikati ya bahari, alalaye juu ya kamba ya merikebu.
35 And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?”
Utasema, “Wamenipiga lakini sikuumia! Wamenichapa, lakini sisikii! Nitaamka lini ili nikanywe tena?”
