Proverbs 23
1 If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quae apposita sunt ante faciem tuam:
2 and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
et statue cultrum in gutture tuo, si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam,
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
ne desideres de cibis eius, in quo est panis mendacii.
4 If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
Noli laborare ut diteris: sed prudentiae tuae pone modum.
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.
Ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes, quas non potes habere: quia facient sibi pennas quasi aquilae, et volabunt in caelum.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
Ne comedas cum homine invido, et ne desideres cibos eius:
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:
quoniam in similitudinem arioli, et coniectoris, aestimat quod ignorat. Comede et bibe, dicet tibi: et mens eius non est tecum.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
Cibos, quos comederas, evomes: et perdes pulchros sermones tuos.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
In auribus insipientium ne loquaris: qui despicient doctrinam eloquii tui.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Ne attingas parvulorum terminos: et agrum pupillorum ne introeas:
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
Propinquus enim illorum fortis est: et ipse iudicabit contra te causam illorum.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
Ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum: et aures tuae ad verba scientiae.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam: si enim percusseris eum virga, non morietur.
Tu virga percuties eum: et animam eius de inferno liberabis. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
Fili mi, si sapiens fuerit animus tuus, gaudebit tecum cor meum:
16 and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
et exultabunt renes mei, cum locuta fuerint recta labia tua.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores: sed in timore Domini esto tota die:
18 For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
quia habebis spem in novissimo, et praestolatio tua non auferetur.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
Audi fili mi, et esto sapiens: et dirige in via animum tuum.
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Noli esse in conviviis potatorum, nec in comessationibus eorum, qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt:
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
quia vacantes potibus, et dantes symbola consumentur, et vestietur pannis dormitatio.
22 Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
Audi patrem tuum, qui genuit te: et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.
Veritatem eme, et noli vendere sapientiam, et doctrinam, et intelligentiam.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
Exultat gaudio pater iusti: qui sapientem genuit, laetabitur in eo.
25 Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
Gaudeat pater tuus, et mater tua, et exultet quae genuit te.
26 [My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
Praebe fili mi cor tuum mihi: et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
Fovea enim profunda est meretrix: et puteus angustus, aliena.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
Insidiatur in via quasi latro, et quos incautos viderit, interficiet.
29 Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
Cui vae? cuius patri vae? cui rixae? cui foveae? cui sine causa vulnera? cui suffusio oculorum?
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.
Nonne his, qui commorantur in vino, et student calicibus epotandis?
31 For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit, cum splenduerit in vitro color eius: ingreditur blande,
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.
sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber, et sicut regulus venena diffundet.
33 Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
Oculi tui videbunt extraneas, et cor tuum loquetur perversa.
34 And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo:
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?
et dices: Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui: traxerunt me, et ego non sensi: quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam?
