< Proverbs 23 >

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, thou shalt consider well, what is before thee;
If you sit to sup at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you:
2 And shalt put a knife to thy throat, if, of great appetite, thou art:
and apply your hand, knowing that it behoves you to prepare such [meats]: but if you are very insatiable,
3 Do not crave his dainties, for, the same, are deceitful food.
desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
4 Do not toil to get wealth, of thine own understanding, forbear:
If you are poor, measure not yourself with a rich man; but refrain yourself in your wisdom.
5 Wilt thou let thine eye fly thereupon, when it is nothing? for it will, surely make, itself wings, Like an eagle, will it wing its way across the heavens.
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 Do not eat the food of him that hath a begrudging eye, neither crave thou his dainties;
Sup not with an envious man, neither desire you his meats:
7 For, just as he hath thought in his own mind, so, he is: Eat and drink! he may say 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 As for thy morsel thou hast eaten, thou shalt vomit it, so shalt thou waste thy things so sweet.
for he will vomit it up, and spoil your fair words.
9 In the ears of a dullard, do not speak, for he will despise the good sense of thy words.
Say nothing in the ears of a fool, lest at any time he sneer at your wise words.
10 Do not move back the ancient boundary, and, into the fields of the fatherless, do not enter;
Remove not the ancient landmarks; and enter not upon the possession of the fatherless:
11 For, their near of kin, is strong, he, will plead their cause with thee.
for the Lord is their redeemer; he is mighty, and will plead their cause with you.
12 Bring, to correction, thy heart, and thine ears, to the sayings of knowledge.
Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ears for words of discretion.
13 Do not withhold, from a child, correction, When thou smitest him with the rod, he shall not die:
Refrain not from chastening a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou, with the rod, shalt smite him, and, his soul from hades, shalt thou deliver. (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 So shall my reins exult, when thy lips speak the things that are right.
and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17 Let not thy heart be envious of sinners, only of the reverence of Yahweh, all day long;
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, thine expectation, shall 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 be wise, and lead forward, in duty, thy heart.
Hear, [my] son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
20 Do not be among them who tipple with wine, —among them who are gluttons;
Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21 For, the tippler and the glutton, shall come to poverty, and, rags, shall Slumber put on!
for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22 Hearken to thy father here, who begat thee, and despise not, when she is old, thy mother.
Listen, [my] son, to your father which begot you, and despise not [your mother] because she is grown old.
23 Truth, buy thou, but do not sell, wisdom, and correction, and understanding.
24 Greatly shall exult, the father of a righteous man, and, he that begetteth a wise son, shall rejoice in him:
A righteous father brings up [his children] well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25 Rejoice shall thy father and thy mother, yea she, shall exult, who bare thee.
Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
26 Oh give, my son, thy mind unto me, and let, thine eyes, observe, my ways;
[My] son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For, a deep chasm, is the unchaste woman, and, a narrow pit, the female unknown;
For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
28 Yea, she, as for prey, lieth in wait, and, the treacherous among mankind, she causeth to abound.
For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
29 Who hath woe? Who hath outcry of pain? Who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? Who hath needless wounds? Who hath dullness 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 who tarry over wine, they who go in to search for mixed wine.
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 wine when it becometh red, when it giveth in the cup its sparkle, glideth down smoothly.
For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
32 Its after effect, is that, like a serpent, it biteth, and, like a viper, it doth 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 Thine eyes, will see strange women, and, thy heart, will speak perverse things:
Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
34 So shalt thou become, as one lying down in the heart of the sea, —or as one lying down on the top of the mastgear:
And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
35 They smote me—I felt no pain, They struck me down—I noticed it not, —When shall I wake up? I will go on, I will 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?

< Proverbs 23 >