Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, thou shalt consider well, what is before thee;
When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
2 And shalt put a knife to thy throat, if, of great appetite, thou art:
And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Do not crave his dainties, for, the same, are deceitful food.
Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Do not toil to get wealth, of thine own understanding, forbear:
Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
5 Wilt thou let thine eye fly thereupon, when it is nothing? for it will, surely make, itself wings, Like an eagle, will it wing its way across the heavens.
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 Do not eat the food of him that hath a begrudging eye, neither crave thou his dainties;
Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 For, just as he hath thought in his own mind, so, he is: Eat and drink! he may say to thee, but, his heart, is not with thee.
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 As for thy morsel thou hast eaten, thou shalt vomit it, so shalt thou waste thy things so sweet.
The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
9 In the ears of a dullard, do not speak, for he will despise the good sense of thy words.
Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Do not move back the ancient boundary, and, into the fields of the fatherless, do not enter;
Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 For, their near of kin, is strong, he, will plead their cause with thee.
For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Bring, to correction, thy heart, and thine ears, to the sayings of knowledge.
Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold, from a child, correction, When thou smitest him with the rod, he shall 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 thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 So shall my reins exult, when thy lips speak the things that are right.
And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Let not thy heart be envious of sinners, only of the reverence of Yahweh, all day long;
Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 For surely there is a future, and, thine expectation, shall not be cut off.
Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Hear, thou, my son, and be wise, and lead forward, in duty, thy heart.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
20 Do not be among them who tipple with wine, —among them who are gluttons;
Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 For, the tippler and the glutton, shall come to poverty, and, rags, shall Slumber put on!
Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
22 Hearken to thy father here, who begat thee, and despise not, when she is old, thy mother.
Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Truth, buy thou, but do not sell, wisdom, and correction, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 Greatly shall exult, the father of a righteous man, and, he that begetteth a wise son, shall rejoice in him:
The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 Rejoice shall thy father and thy mother, yea she, shall exult, who bare thee.
Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 Oh give, my son, thy mind unto me, and let, thine eyes, observe, my ways;
My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 For, a deep chasm, is the unchaste woman, and, a narrow pit, the female unknown;
For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 Yea, she, as for prey, lieth in wait, and, the treacherous among mankind, she causeth to abound.
She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who hath woe? Who hath outcry of pain? Who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? Who hath needless wounds? Who hath dullness of 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 They who tarry over wine, they who go in to search for mixed wine.
Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
31 Do not look on wine when it becometh red, when it giveth in the cup its sparkle, glideth down smoothly.
Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 Its after effect, is that, like a serpent, it biteth, and, like a viper, it doth sting.
But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 Thine eyes, will see strange women, and, thy heart, will speak perverse things:
Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 So shalt thou become, as one lying down in the heart of the sea, —or as one lying down on the top of the mastgear:
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 smote me—I felt no pain, They struck me down—I noticed it not, —When shall I wake up? I will go on, I will seek it, again!
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?
