< Proverbs 23 >
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well him that is before thee;
2 And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful food.
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.
Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.
5 For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone; for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties;
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.
For as one that hath reckoned within himself, so is he: 'Eat and drink', saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
Speak not in the ears of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause with thee.
12 Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
Withhold not correction from the child; for though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You strike him with a rod, And you deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol )
Thou beatest him with the rod, and wilt deliver his soul from the nether-world. (Sheol )
15 My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;
16 And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
Yea, my reins will rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17 Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day;
18 For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
For surely there is a future; and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
20 Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh;
21 For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
Hearken unto thy father that begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
25 Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bore thee rejoice.
26 Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.
28 She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the faithless among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? who hath contentions? who hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.
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.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it glideth down smoothly;
32 Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like a basilisk.
33 Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter confused things.
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.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 “They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
'They have struck me, and I felt it not, they have beaten me, and I knew it not; when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.'