Proverbs 23
1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
and apply thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to prepare such [meats]: but if thou art very insatiable,
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; but refrain thyself in thy wisdom.
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.
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 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:
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.
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 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
for he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words.
10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
Apply thine heart to instruction, and prepare thine ears for words of discretion.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Refrain not from chastening a child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
For thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from death. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
Son, if thy heart be wise, thou shalt also gladden my heart;
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
and thy lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; and thine hope shall not be removed.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Hearken, [my] son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not [thy mother] because she is grown old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell 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.
A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.
26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
[My] son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
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 trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
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 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
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 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, then thy mouth shall speak perverse things.
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.
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 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?
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?
