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 diligently what is before thee:
2 And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
For thou puttest a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man of a craving desire.
3 Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
Do not long for his savory meats; 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.
Fatigue thyself not to become rich; because thou hast understanding, forbear.
5 For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
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.
6 Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
Eat not the bread of a man with an evil eye, and do not long for his savory meats;
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 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.
8 You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou spit out, and thou hast wasted thy pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
Speak not before the ears of a fool; for he will despise the intelligence 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 into the fields of the fatherless must thou not enter;
11 For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
For their redeemer is strong; he will indeed plead their cause with thee.
12 Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thy ears to the sayings of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
Withhold not from a lad correction; for if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Thou wilt indeed beat him with the rod; but thou wilt deliver his soul from perdition. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
My son, If thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
And my reins shall exult when thy lips speak what is equitable.
17 Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
Let not thy heart be envious against sinners; but [remain] in the fear of the lord all the time.
18 For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
For surely there is a future, and thy hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
Hear thou, my son, and become wise, and guide thy heart on the right way.
20 Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
Be not among those that drink wine immoderately, among those that over-indulge in eating flesh:
21 For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty; and drowsiness clotheth a man in 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 hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother although she be 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 be greatly glad, and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy through him.
25 Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
Let [then] thy father and thy mother rejoice, and let her that hath born thee be glad.
26 Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
Give, my son, thy heart unto me, and let thy eyes watch 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 a strange woman is a narrow well.
28 She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
She also lieth in wait like a robber, and she increaseth the treacherous 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 hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath quarrels? who hath complaints? 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 late over the wine: they that come to seek for mixed drink.
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.
Do not look on the wine when it looketh red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it glideth down so readily.
32 Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
At the last it will bite like a serpent, and like a basilisk will it sting.
33 Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
Thy eyes will see strange forms, and thy heart will speak perverse 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.
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.
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 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.”
