Proverbs 23
1 If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider well what is before thee;
2 and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
For thou wilt put a knife to thy throat, If thou art a man given to appetite!
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Long not for his dainties. For they are deceitful meat.
4 If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
Toil not to become rich; Cease from this, thy wisdom.
5 If you should fix your eye upon him, he will disappear; for wings like an eagle's are prepared for him, and he returns to the house of his master.
Wilt thou let thine eyes fly toward them? They are gone! For riches truly make to themselves wings; They fly away like the eagle toward heaven.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
Eat not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, And long not for his dainties;
7 so he eats and drinks as if any one should swallow a hair, and do not bring him in to yourself, nor eat your morsel with him:
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 for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
The morsel, which thou hast eaten, thou shalt vomit up; And thou wilt have thrown away thy sweet words.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
Speak not in the ears of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Remove not the ancient landmark, And enter not into the fields of the fatherless!
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
For their avenger is mighty; He will maintain their cause against thee.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
Apply thy heart to instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Withhold not correction from a child; If thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Beat him thyself with the rod, And thou shalt rescue him from the underworld. (Sheol h7585)
15 Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart shall rejoice, even mine;
16 and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
Yea, my reins shall exult, When thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Let not thy heart envy sinners, But continue thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long;
18 For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
For surely there shall be a reward, And thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise; And let thy heart go forward in the way!
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Be not thou among winebibbers, And riotous eaters of flesh;
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.
Buy the truth, and sell it not; Buy wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
The father of a righteous man shall greatly rejoice; Yea, he who begetteth a wise child shall have joy in him.
25 Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
Let thy father and thy mother have joy; Yea, let her that bore thee rejoice!
26 [My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me thy heart, And let thine eyes observe my ways!
27 For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
For a harlot is a deep ditch; Yea, a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
Like a robber she lieth in wait, And increaseth the treacherous among men.
29 Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who anxiety? Who wounds without cause? Who dimness of eyes?
30 Are not those of them that stay long at wine? [are] not [those] of them that haunt [the places] where banquets are? Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse [with them] openly.
They that tarry long at the wine; They that go in to seek mixed wine.
31 For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly.
32 But at last [such a one] stretches himself out as one struck by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.
At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
33 Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
Thine eyes will look upon strange women, And thy heart will utter perverse things.
34 And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
Yea, thou shalt be as one that lieth down in the midst of the sea, And as one that lieth down upon the top of a mast.
35 And you shall say, They struck me, and I was not pained; and they mocked me, and I knew it not: when will it be morning, that I may go and seek those with whom I may go in company?
They have stricken me [[shalt thou say]], —I suffered no pain! They have beaten me, —I felt it not! When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
