Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eate with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee,
When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
2 And put the knife to thy throte, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite.
and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
3 Be not desirous of his deintie meates: for it is a deceiuable meate.
Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Trauaile not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdome.
Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
5 Wilt thou cast thine eyes vpon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an eagle, and flyeth into the heauen.
Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.
6 Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates.
Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
7 For as though he thought it in his heart, so will hee say vnto thee, Eate and drinke: but his heart is not with thee.
For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.
8 Thou shalt vomit thy morsels that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweete wordes.
The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
9 Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisdome of thy wordes.
Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
10 Remooue not the ancient boundes, and enter not into the fieldes of the fatherlesse.
Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
11 For he that redeemeth them, is mightie: he will defend their cause against thee.
For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine eares to the wordes of knowledge.
Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die.
Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 My sonne, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall reioyce, and I also.
My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
16 And my reynes shall reioyce, when thy lips speake righteous things.
And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
17 Let not thine heart bee enuious against sinners: but let it bee in the feare of the Lord continually.
Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
18 For surely there is an ende, and thy hope shall not be cut off.
For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
19 O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
20 Keepe not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons.
Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall bee poore, and the sleeper shalbe clothed with ragges.
For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
22 Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.
Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
23 Bye the trueth, but sell it not: likewise wisdome, and instruction, and vnderstanding.
Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce, and hee that begetteth a wise childe, shall haue ioy of him.
The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall reioyce.
Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
26 My sonne, giue mee thine heart, and let thine eyes delite in my wayes.
My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27 For a whore is as a deepe ditche, and a strange woman is as a narrowe pitte.
For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
28 Also she lyeth in wait as for a praye, and she increaseth the transgressers among men.
She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
29 To whome is woe? to whome is sorowe? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are woundes without cause? and to whome is the rednesse of the eyes?
Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30 Euen to them that tarie long at the wine, to them that goe, and seeke mixt wine.
Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31 Looke not thou vpon the wine, when it is red, and when it sheweth his colour in the cup, or goeth downe pleasantly.
Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32 In the ende thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrise.
but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
33 Thine eyes shall looke vpon strange women, and thine heart shall speake lewde things.
Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
34 And thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middes of the sea, and as hee that sleepeth in the toppe of the maste.
And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.
35 They haue stricken mee, shalt thou say, but I was not sicke: they haue beaten mee, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seeke it yet still.
And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?”
