Proverbs 23
1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
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 thy throat, if thou 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.
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine 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.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon 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 thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou 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 thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy 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 thy 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 thee.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine 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 thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy 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 thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of YHWH 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 thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine 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.
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy 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 begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
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 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 lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth 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 hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath 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 thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth 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 biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine 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.
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 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, shalt thou 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.
