< Proverbs 23 >
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set 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 possess a great appetite.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
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 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
7 for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says 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 You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 Do not speak to 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 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on 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 strong; He will take up their case against you.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
14 Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol )
You strike him with a rod, And you deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol )
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise 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 Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell, 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.
The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless 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 complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
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 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on 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 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?”
“They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”