Proverbs 23
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,
If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before thee:
2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
and apply thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to prepare such [meats]: but if thou art very insatiable,
3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; but refrain thyself in thy wisdom.
5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
If thou shouldest fix thine 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.
6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:
7 for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
so he eats and drinks as if any one should swallow a hair, and do not bring him in to thyself, nor eat thy morsel with him:
8 You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
for he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words.
9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
11 for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
Apply thine heart to instruction, and prepare thine ears for words of discretion.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Refrain not from chastening a child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
For thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from death. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
Son, if thy heart be wise, thou shalt also gladden my heart;
16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
and thy lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; and thine hope shall not be removed.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Hearken, [my] son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not [thy mother] because she is grown old.
23 Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
[My] son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
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.
31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
But at last [such a one] stretches himself out as one smitten by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, then thy mouth shall speak perverse things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
And thou shalt lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
35 “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?”
And thou shalt say, They smote 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?
