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, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,
2 and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.
3 desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.
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.
For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.
6 Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to 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 hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, 'Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.
8 for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.
9 Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,
11 for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat 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 Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,
16 and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But — in the fear of Jehovah all the day.
18 For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not 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 make happy in the way thy heart,
20 Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth 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 hath become old.
Truth buy, and sell not, 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 the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.
25 Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.
26 [My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch 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, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.
28 For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.
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 hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness 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.
Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
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 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.
Its latter end — as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
33 Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.
34 And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
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 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 smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake — I seek it yet again!'
