Proverbs 23
1 When you sit down for a meal with a ruler, look carefully at what is placed before you,
When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
2 and cut down if you have a big appetite.
And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Don't be greedy for his fancy food, for it's offered with deceptive motives.
Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich—be wise enough not to bother!
Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
5 It disappears in the blink of an eye, suddenly growing wings and flying off into the sky like an eagle.
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.
6 Don't accept meal invitations from miserly people; don't be greedy for their fancy food,
Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 for what they're thinking inside is what they really are. They say, “Come on, eat and drink!”—but in their minds they don't really care about you.
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.
8 You'll vomit up the little pieces you've eaten, and your kind words of appreciation will be wasted.
The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
9 Don't talk to stupid people because they'll ridicule your wise words.
Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Don't move ancient boundary markers, and don't encroach on fields belonging to orphans,
Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 for their Protector is powerful and he will plead their case against you.
For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Focus your mind on instruction; listen intently to words of knowledge.
Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Don't keep from disciplining your children—a beating won't kill them.
Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if you think wisely then I'll be happy;
My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 I'll be delighted when you say what's right.
And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Don't think enviously of sinners, but always remember to honor the Lord,
Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 for there's definitely a future for you, and your hope will not be crushed.
Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Pay attention, my son, and be wise; make sure your mind concentrates on following the right way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
20 Don't join in with people who drink too much wine or who stuff themselves with meat.
Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 For people who get drunk and overeat lose all they've got, and they spend so much time dozing that all they have left to wear is rags.
Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
22 Pay attention to your father, and don't disregard your mother when she's old.
Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Invest in truth—and don't sell it! Invest in wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 Children who do right make their fathers very happy; a wise son brings joy to his father.
The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 Make your father and mother happy; bring joy to her who gave birth to you.
Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 My son, give me your undivided attention, and cheerfully follow my example.
My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 A prostitute is like being trapped in a pit; an immoral woman is like getting stuck a narrow well,
For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 Like a robber, she lies in wait ready to ambush men and make more of them unfaithful to their wives.
She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who's in trouble? Who's in pain? Who's arguing? Who's complaining? Who's injured for no reason? Who's got bloodshot eyes?
Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 —those who spend a long time drinking wine, those who are always trying some new cocktail.
Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
31 Don't let the look of wine tempt you—how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smooth it feels as it goes down.
Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 In the end it bites like a serpent, it stings like a snake.
But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 You'll hallucinate, seeing strange things, and your confused mind will make you say all kinds of craziness.
Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 You'll stumble around like you're on the rolling ocean, you'll be tossed about like someone lying down at the top of a ship's mast, saying,
And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.
35 “People punched me, but it didn't hurt me; they beat me, but I didn't feel a thing. I've got to get up because I need another drink.”
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?
