Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
2 For thou puttest a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man of a craving desire.
and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
3 Do not long for his savory meats; they are deceitful food.
desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
4 Fatigue thyself not to become rich; because thou hast understanding, forbear.
If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
5 When thou lettest merely thy eyes fly over it, it is no more: for it will ever make itself wings: like an eagle will it fly toward heaven.
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.
6 Eat not the bread of a man with an evil eye, and do not long for his savory meats;
Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
7 For as though there were a division in his soul, so doth he act: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
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:
8 Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou spit out, and thou hast wasted thy pleasant words.
for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
9 Speak not before the ears of a fool; for he will despise the intelligence of thy words.
Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmark, and into the fields of the fatherless must thou not enter;
Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer is strong; he will indeed plead their cause with thee.
for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
12 Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thy ears to the sayings of knowledge.
Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
13 Withhold not from a lad correction; for if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou wilt indeed beat him with the rod; but thou wilt deliver his soul from perdition. (Sheol h7585)
For you shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, If thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
16 And my reins shall exult when thy lips speak what is equitable.
and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17 Let not thy heart be envious against sinners; but [remain] in the fear of the lord all the time.
Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18 For surely there is a future, and thy hope will not be cut off.
For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
19 Hear thou, my son, and become wise, and guide thy heart on the right way.
Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
20 Be not among those that drink wine immoderately, among those that over-indulge in eating flesh:
Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty; and drowsiness clotheth a man in rags.
for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22 Hearken unto thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother although she be old.
Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
23 Buy the truth and sell it not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will be greatly glad, and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy through him.
A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25 Let [then] thy father and thy mother rejoice, and let her that hath born thee be glad.
Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
26 Give, my son, thy heart unto me, and let thy eyes watch my ways.
[My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow well.
For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
28 She also lieth in wait like a robber, and she increaseth the treacherous among men.
For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath quarrels? who hath complaints? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Who [has] woe? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
30 They that tarry late over the wine: they that come to seek for mixed drink.
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.
31 Do not look on the wine when it looketh red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it glideth down so readily.
For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
32 At the last it will bite like a serpent, and like a basilisk will it sting.
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.
33 Thy eyes will see strange forms, and thy heart will speak perverse things.
Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
34 And thou wilt be like one that lieth down in the heart of the sea, or as he that lieth on the top of a mast.
And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
35 “They smote me, [but] I suffered no pain; they struck me hard, [but] I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will continue to seek it again.”
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?
