Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:
When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [art] a man given to appetite.
And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful food.
Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.
4 Labor not to be rich: cease from thy own wisdom.
Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.
5 Wilt thou set thy eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make to themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven.
Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:
Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.
For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;
11 For their redeemer [is] mighty; he will plead their cause with thee.
For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.
12 Apply thy heart to instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge.
Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.
Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;
16 Yes, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;
18 For surely there is an end; and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
20 Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.
For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.
22 Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.
The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.
Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
26 My son, give me thy heart, and let thy eyes observe my ways.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
27 For a lewd woman [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
28 She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright.
Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
34 And 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.
Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
35 They have stricken me, [wilt thou say], [and] I was not sick; they have beaten me, [and] I felt [it] not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
