Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you:
When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful food.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom.
Do not labor to make wealth, Cease from your own understanding, Do you cause your eyes to fly on it? Then it is not.
5 Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty meats:
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to you; but his heart is not with you.
For as he has thought in his soul, so he [is]. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, And his heart [is] not with you.
8 The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet words.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Apply your heart unto instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
You strike him with a rod, And you deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Hearken unto your father that brings forth you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that bring forths a wise child shall have joy of him.
The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she that bare you shall rejoice.
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 She also lies in wait as for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men.
She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
29 Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Look not you upon the wine when it is red, when it gives his colour in the cup, when it moves itself aright.
Do not see wine when it shows itself red, When it gives its color in the cup, It goes up and down through the upright.
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 your eyes shall behold strange women, and your heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
34 Yea, you shall be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lies upon the top of a mast.
And you have been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shall you say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
“They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
