Proverbs 23
1 If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;
2 and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
4 If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
5 If you should fix your 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.
Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,
7 so he eats and drinks as if any one should swallow a hair, and do not bring him in to yourself, nor eat your morsel with him:
for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.
16 and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear the LORD all day long.
18 For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Don’t be amongst ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat;
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 become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
22 Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
25 Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
26 [My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful amongst 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 has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot 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.
Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
31 For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
32 But at last [such a one] stretches himself out as one struck by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.
In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
33 Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34 And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
35 And you shall say, They struck 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 hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.”
