מִשְׁלֵי 23
| כי-תשב ללחום את-מושל-- בין תבין את-אשר לפניך | 1 |
When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
| ושמת שכין בלעך-- אם-בעל נפש אתה | 2 |
and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
| אל-תתאו למטעמותיו והוא לחם כזבים | 3 |
Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
| אל-תיגע להעשיר מבינתך חדל | 4 |
Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
| התעוף (התעיף) עיניך בו ואיננו כי עשה יעשה-לו כנפים כנשר ועיף (יעוף) השמים | 5 |
Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.
| אל-תלחם--את-לחם רע עין ואל-תתאו למטעמתיו | 6 |
Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
| כי כמו שער בנפשו-- כן-הוא אכול ושתה יאמר לך ולבו בל-עמך | 7 |
For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.
| פתך-אכלת תקיאנה ושחת דבריך הנעימים | 8 |
The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
| באזני כסיל אל-תדבר כי-יבוז לשכל מליך | 9 |
Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
| אל-תסג גבול עולם ובשדי יתומים אל-תבא | 10 |
Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
| כי-גאלם חזק הוא-יריב את-ריבם אתך | 11 |
For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
| הביאה למוסר לבך ואזנך לאמרי-דעת | 12 |
Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
| אל-תמנע מנער מוסר כי-תכנו בשבט לא ימות | 13 |
Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
| אתה בשבט תכנו ונפשו משאול תציל (Sheol h7585) | 14 |
You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell. (Sheol h7585)
| בני אם-חכם לבך-- ישמח לבי גם-אני | 15 |
My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
| ותעלזנה כליותי-- בדבר שפתיך מישרים | 16 |
And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
| אל-יקנא לבך בחטאים כי אם-ביראת-יהוה כל-היום | 17 |
Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
| כי אם-יש אחרית ותקותך לא תכרת | 18 |
For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
| שמע-אתה בני וחכם ואשר בדרך לבך | 19 |
Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
| אל-תהי בסבאי-יין-- בזללי בשר למו | 20 |
Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
| כי-סבא וזולל יורש וקרעים תלביש נומה | 21 |
For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
| שמע לאביך זה ילדך ואל-תבוז כי-זקנה אמך | 22 |
Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
| אמת קנה ואל-תמכר חכמה ומוסר ובינה | 23 |
Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
| גול (גיל) יגיל אבי צדיק יולד (ויולד) חכם וישמח- (ישמח-) בו | 24 |
The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
| ישמח-אביך ואמך ותגל יולדתך | 25 |
Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
| תנה-בני לבך לי ועיניך דרכי תרצנה (תצרנה) | 26 |
My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
| כי-שוחה עמקה זונה ובאר צרה נכריה | 27 |
For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
| אף-היא כחתף תארב ובוגדים באדם תוסף | 28 |
She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
| למי אוי למי אבוי למי מדונים (מדינים) למי שיח-- למי פצעים חנם למי חכללות עינים | 29 |
Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
| למאחרים על-היין-- לבאים לחקר ממסך | 30 |
Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
| אל-תרא יין כי יתאדם כי-יתן בכיס (בכוס) עינו יתהלך במישרים | 31 |
Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
| אחריתו כנחש ישך וכצפעני יפרש | 32 |
but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
| עיניך יראו זרות ולבך ידבר תהפכות | 33 |
Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
| והיית כשכב בלב-ים וכשכב בראש חבל | 34 |
And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.
| הכוני בל-חליתי-- הלמוני בל-ידעתי מתי אקיץ אוסיף אבקשנו עוד | 35 |
And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?”
