< Proverbs 23 >
1 If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before thee:
2 and apply thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to prepare such [meats]: but if thou art very insatiable,
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
4 If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; but refrain thyself in thy wisdom.
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.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:
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:
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and prepare thine ears for words of discretion.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 For thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from death. (Sheol )
15 Son, if thy heart be wise, thou shalt also gladden my heart;
16 and thy lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18 For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; and thine hope shall not be removed.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22 Hearken, [my] son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not [thy mother] because she is grown old.
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24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25 Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.
26 [My] son, give me thine 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.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
29 Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
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.
31 For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
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.
33 Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, then thy mouth shall speak perverse things.
34 And thou shalt lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
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?
