Proverbs 23
1 When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.
and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
3 Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.
Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
4 Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
5 Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.
When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6 Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
7 For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.
for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.
Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.
for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
12 Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;
My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
16 And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.
My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
18 For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
20 Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
21 For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
22 Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
28 Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
29 Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
31 Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:
Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
34 Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
35 They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
“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?”
