Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;
When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
2 put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
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 Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
7 for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
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 You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
10 Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on 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 Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will 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 your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear the LORD all day long.
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat;
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your 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 don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
24 The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
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 In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
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 hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.”
“They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
