Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you:
When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite.
And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful food.
Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom.
Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
5 Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
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 Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty meats:
Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to you; but his heart is not with 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 The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet words.
The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you.
For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Apply your heart unto instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
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 your heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things.
And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.
Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
22 Hearken unto your father that brings forth you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that bring forths a wise child shall have joy of him.
The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she that bare you shall rejoice.
Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 For a whore 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 narrow pit.
28 She also lies in wait as for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men.
She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of 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 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
31 Look not you upon the wine when it is red, when it gives his colour in the cup, when it moves itself aright.
Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 your eyes shall behold strange women, and your heart shall utter perverse things.
Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, you shall be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lies upon the top of a mast.
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 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.
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?
