Proverbs 23
1 When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.
And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.
3 Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.
Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.
Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.
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.
For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.
6 Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,
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 as he hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, 'Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.
8 The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.
9 Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.
In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy 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;
Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,
11 For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.
12 Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings 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.
Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.
Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;
My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,
16 And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.
And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.
17 Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;
Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But — in the fear of Jehovah all the day.
18 For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.
19 Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,
20 Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
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 quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.
22 Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.
23 Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
Truth buy, and sell not, 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 the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.
28 Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.
29 Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
30 Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
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:
See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.
32 In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
Its latter end — as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
And thou hast 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 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 smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake — I seek it yet again!'
