Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:
When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [art] a man given to appetite.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful food.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Labor not to be rich: cease from thy own wisdom.
Do not labor to make wealth, Cease from your own understanding, Do you cause your eyes to fly on it? Then it is not.
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.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
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 he has thought in his soul, so he [is]. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, And his heart [is] not with you.
8 The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
11 For their redeemer [is] mighty; he will plead their cause with thee.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Apply thy heart to instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Do not withhold discipline from a youth, When you strike him with a rod he does not die.
You strike him with a rod, And you deliver his soul from Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 Yes, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 For surely there is an end; and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
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 righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 My son, give me thy heart, and let thy eyes observe my ways.
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 For a lewd woman [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 pit.
28 She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous 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 has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out 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.
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.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse 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.
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.
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 struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
