Proverbs 23
1 If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before thee:
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well who is before thee;
2 and apply thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to prepare such [meats]: but if thou art very insatiable,
and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Be not desirous of his dainties; for they are deceitful food.
4 If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; but refrain thyself in thy wisdom.
Weary not thyself to become rich; cease from thine own intelligence:
5 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.
wilt thou set thine eyes upon it, it is gone; for indeed it maketh itself wings and it flieth away as an eagle towards the heavens.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:
Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties.
7 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:
For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. Eat and drink! will he say unto thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words.
Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up, and thou wilt have wasted thy sweet words.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words.
Speak not in the ears of a foolish [man], for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee.
for their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause against thee.
12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and prepare thine ears for words of discretion.
Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Withhold not correction from the child; for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die:
thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if thy heart be wise, thou shalt also gladden my heart;
My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine;
16 and thy lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
and my reins shall exult, when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Let not thy heart envy sinners, but [be thou] in the fear of Jehovah all the day;
18 For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; and thine hope shall not be removed.
for surely there is a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.
Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy heart in the way.
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness clotheth with rags.
22 Hearken, [my] son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not [thy mother] because she is grown old.
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Buy the truth, and sell it not; wisdom, and instruction, and intelligence.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
The father of a righteous [man] shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise [son] shall have joy of him:
25 Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.
let thy father and thy mother have joy, and let her that bore thee rejoice.
26 [My] son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.
29 Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who complaining? Who wounds without cause? Who redness of eyes?
30 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.
— They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.
31 For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly:
32 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.
at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33 Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, then thy mouth shall speak perverse things.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall speak froward things;
34 And thou shalt lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
and thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, and as he that lieth down upon the top of a mast:
35 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?
— “They have smitten me, [and] I am not sore; they have beaten me, [and] I knew it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
