Proverbs 23
1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is 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 be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
Labor not to be rich: cease from your own 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.
Will you set your eyes on that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty 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.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he 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.
The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
Speak not in the ears of 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:
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with 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 the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
My son, if your heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
Yes, my reins shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters 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 the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Listen to your father that begat you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also 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 the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begets a wise child shall have joy of him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she that bore you shall 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 observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
She also lies in wait as for a prey, and increases the transgressors 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 babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes?
30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
Look not you on the wine when it is red, when it gives his color in the cup, when it moves itself aright.
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes shall behold strange women, and your heart shall utter 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.
Yes, you shall be as he that lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he that lies 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 have stricken me, shall you say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
