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, Thou considerest diligently that which [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 thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.
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.
For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.
6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,
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 hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, 'Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.
8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.
10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.
Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But — in the fear of Jehovah all the day.
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not 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 make happy in the way thy heart,
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones 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 quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Truth buy, and sell not, 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 rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.
26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.
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 plaint? 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.
Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
Its latter end — as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh 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 hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down 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 smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake — I seek it yet again!'
