< Proverbs 23 >

1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
幾時你與首長坐席,應記著,在你面前的是誰。
2 And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
你若過於貪食,應在咽喉上,放上一把刀。
3 Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
休要羨慕他的珍饈,因那是騙人的食品。
4 Do not labor to make wealth, Cease from your own understanding, Do you cause your eyes to fly on it? Then it is not.
不要辛苦企求致富,反應放棄這種企圖。
5 For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
你向之一注目,即不再存在了:它會生出翅膀,如鷹向天飛去。
6 Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
不要與虎視眈眈的人進食,也不要羨慕他的山珍海味,
7 For as he has thought in his soul, so he [is]. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, And his heart [is] not with you.
因為他原是只顧自己的人,他口頭雖對你說「請吃請喝! 」但他的心中並不與你友善;
8 You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
你吃下的那口食物,還得吐出;你婉轉悅耳的言辭,盡屬枉費。
9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
不要與愚人交耳接談,因他必輕視你的高見。
10 Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
不要移動孀婦的地界,不要侵佔孤兒的田地;
11 For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
因為他們的辯護者是大能的,他必為他們的案件與你爭辯。
12 Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
你應專心接受教訓,傾耳細聽益智之言。
13 Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
對孩童不可忽略懲戒;用棍打他,他不致死去。
14 You strike him with a rod, And you deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
你用棍杖打他,是救他的靈魂免下陰府。 (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
我兒,你若心懷智慧,我也誠心喜樂;
16 And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
你的唇舌若談吐正義的事,我的五衷也必會踴躍歡欣。
17 Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
心裏不要羨慕罪人,卻要日日敬畏上主;
18 For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
這樣你的將來必然順利,你的希望絕不落空。
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
我兒,你要聽話,作個明智人;且要引領你的心走上正道。
20 Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
貪嗜酒肉的人,不可與之來往;
21 For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
因為嗜酒貪食的人,必陷於窮困;貪懶好睡的人,必衣著襤褸。
22 Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
對生養你的父親,應當聽從;對你年邁的母親,不可輕視。
23 Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
應獲取真理,不可出賣,還有智慧、訓誨和見識。
24 The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
義人的父親,必欣然喜樂;生育慧子的,必為此歡騰。
25 Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
應使你的父親因你而喜悅,應使你的生母因你而快樂。
26 Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
我兒,將你的心交給我,注目於我的道路:
27 For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
妓女是一個深坑,淫婦是一個陷阱;
28 She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
她潛伏著,實如強盜,使人世間,增添奸夫。
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
是誰將哀鳴,是誰將悲嘆﹖是誰將爭吵,是誰將抱怨﹖是誰將無故受傷,是誰將雙目赤紅﹖
30 Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
是那流連於醉鄉,去搜求醇酒的人。
31 Do not see wine when it shows itself red, When it gives its color in the cup, It goes up and down through the upright.
你不要注視酒色怎樣紅,在杯中怎樣閃耀,飲下去怎樣痛快!
32 Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
終究它要咬人如蛇,刺人如虺。
33 Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
那時,你的眼要見到奇景,你的心要吐出狂語。
34 And you have been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.
你宛如躺在海中心,睡在桅杆頂。「
35 “They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
人打我,我不痛,人捶我,我不覺;我何時甦醒,好再去尋醉! 」

< Proverbs 23 >