Proverbs 23
1 When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well him that is before thee;
2 and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful food.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone; for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
6 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties;
7 For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.
For as one that hath reckoned within himself, so is he: 'Eat and drink', saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
Speak not in the ears of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause with thee.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Withhold not correction from the child; for though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Thou beatest him with the rod, and wilt deliver his soul from the nether-world. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
Yea, my reins will rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day;
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
For surely there is a future; and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
20 Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh;
21 For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
Hearken unto thy father that begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bore thee rejoice.
26 My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the faithless among men.
29 Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? who hath contentions? who hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it glideth down smoothly;
32 but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like a basilisk.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter confused things.
34 And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?”
'They have struck me, and I felt it not, they have beaten me, and I knew it not; when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.'
