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 eate with a ruler, consider diligently what 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 the knife to thy throte, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite.
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Be not desirous of his deintie meates: for it is a deceiuable meate.
4 If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; but refrain thyself in thy wisdom.
Trauaile not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdome.
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 cast thine eyes vpon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an eagle, and flyeth into the heauen.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:
Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates.
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 though he thought it in his heart, so will hee say vnto thee, Eate and drinke: but his heart is not with thee.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words.
Thou shalt vomit thy morsels that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweete wordes.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words.
Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisdome of thy wordes.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Remooue not the ancient boundes, and enter not into the fieldes of the fatherlesse.
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee.
For he that redeemeth them, is mightie: he will defend their cause against thee.
12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and prepare thine ears for words of discretion.
Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine eares to the wordes 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 childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die.
Thou shalt smite him with the rodde, and shalt deliuer his soule from hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if thy heart be wise, thou shalt also gladden my heart;
My sonne, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall reioyce, and I also.
16 and thy lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
And my reynes shall reioyce, when thy lips speake righteous things.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Let not thine heart bee enuious against sinners: but let it bee in the feare of the Lord continually.
18 For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; and thine hope shall not be removed.
For surely there is an ende, and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.
O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Keepe not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons.
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 bee poore, and the sleeper shalbe clothed with ragges.
22 Hearken, [my] son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not [thy mother] because she is grown old.
Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.
Bye the trueth, but sell it not: likewise wisdome, and instruction, and vnderstanding.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce, and hee that begetteth a wise childe, shall haue ioy of him.
25 Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall reioyce.
26 [My] son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
My sonne, giue mee thine heart, and let thine eyes delite in my wayes.
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
For a whore is as a deepe ditche, and a strange woman is as a narrowe pitte.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
Also she lyeth in wait as for a praye, and she increaseth the transgressers 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?
To whome is woe? to whome is sorowe? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are woundes without cause? and to whome is the rednesse of the 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.
Euen to them that tarie long at the wine, to them that goe, and seeke mixt wine.
31 For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Looke not thou vpon the wine, when it is red, and when it sheweth his colour in the cup, or goeth downe pleasantly.
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.
In the ende thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrise.
33 Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, then thy mouth shall speak perverse things.
Thine eyes shall looke vpon strange women, and thine heart shall speake lewde things.
34 And thou shalt lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
And thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middes of the sea, and as hee that sleepeth in the toppe of the maste.
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 haue stricken mee, shalt thou say, but I was not sicke: they haue beaten mee, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seeke it yet still.
