Proverbs 23
1 When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;
Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quæ apposita sunt ante faciem tuam.
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.
Et statue cultrum in gutture tuo: si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam.
3 Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.
Ne desideres de cibis ejus, in quo est panis mendacii.
4 Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.
Noli laborare ut diteris, sed prudentiæ tuæ pone modum.
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.
Ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes quas non potes habere, quia facient sibi pennas quasi aquilæ, et volabunt in cælum.
6 Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
Ne comedas cum homine invido, et ne desideres cibos ejus:
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.
quoniam in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris æstimat quod ignorat. Comede et bibe, dicet tibi; et mens ejus non est tecum.
8 The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
Cibos quos comederas evomes, et perdes pulchros sermones tuos.
9 Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.
In auribus insipientium ne loquaris, qui despicient doctrinam eloquii tui.
10 Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;
Ne attingas parvulorum terminos, et agrum pupillorum ne introëas:
11 For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.
propinquus enim illorum fortis est, et ipse judicabit contra te causam illorum.
12 Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum, et aures tuæ ad verba scientiæ.
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.
Noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam: si enim percusseris eum virga, non morietur.
Tu virga percuties eum, et animam ejus de inferno liberabis. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;
Fili mi, si sapiens fuerit animus tuus, gaudebit tecum cor meum:
16 And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.
et exsultabunt renes mei, cum locuta fuerint rectum labia tua.
17 Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;
Non æmuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die:
18 For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
quia habebis spem in novissimo, et præstolatio tua non auferetur.
19 Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
Audi, fili mi, et esto sapiens, et dirige in via animum tuum.
20 Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
Noli esse in conviviis potatorum, nec in comessationibus eorum qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt:
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.
quia vacantes potibus et dantes symbola consumentur, et vestietur pannis dormitatio.
22 Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
Audi patrem tuum, qui genuit te, et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.
23 Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
Veritatem eme, et noli vendere sapientiam, et doctrinam, et intelligentiam.
24 The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
Exsultat gaudio pater justi; qui sapientem genuit, lætabitur in eo.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
Gaudeat pater tuus et mater tua, et exsultet quæ genuit te.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
Præbe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi, et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.
27 For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
Fovea enim profunda est meretrix, et puteus angustus aliena.
28 Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
Insidiatur in via quasi latro, et quos incautos viderit, interficiet.
29 Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
Cui væ? cujus patri væ? cui rixæ? cui foveæ? cui sine causa vulnera? cui suffusio oculorum?
30 Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
nonne his qui commorantur in vino, et student calicibus epotandis?
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:
Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit, cum splenduerit in vitro color ejus: ingreditur blande,
32 In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber, et sicut regulus venena diffundet.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
Oculi tui videbunt extraneas, et cor tuum loquetur perversa.
34 Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo.
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.
Et dices: Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui; traxerunt me, et ego non sensi. Quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam?
