Proverbs 23
1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
5 Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.
When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
7 Because like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.
for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
21 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
29 Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
34 And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.
You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
35 And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?
“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
