Proverbiorum 23
1 Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quæ apposita sunt ante faciem tuam.
When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
2 Et statue cultrum in gutture tuo: si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Ne desideres de cibis ejus, in quo est panis mendacii.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Noli laborare ut diteris, sed prudentiæ tuæ pone modum.
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 Ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes quas non potes habere, quia facient sibi pennas quasi aquilæ, et volabunt in cælum.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Ne comedas cum homine invido, et ne desideres cibos ejus:
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
7 quoniam in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris æstimat quod ignorat. Comede et bibe, dicet tibi; et mens ejus non est tecum.
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 Cibos quos comederas evomes, et perdes pulchros sermones tuos.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 In auribus insipientium ne loquaris, qui despicient doctrinam eloquii tui.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
10 Ne attingas parvulorum terminos, et agrum pupillorum ne introëas:
Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
11 propinquus enim illorum fortis est, et ipse judicabit contra te causam illorum.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum, et aures tuæ ad verba scientiæ.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam: si enim percusseris eum virga, non morietur.
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 Fili mi, si sapiens fuerit animus tuus, gaudebit tecum cor meum:
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 et exsultabunt renes mei, cum locuta fuerint rectum labia tua.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Non æmuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die:
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 quia habebis spem in novissimo, et præstolatio tua non auferetur.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Audi, fili mi, et esto sapiens, et dirige in via animum tuum.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Noli esse in conviviis potatorum, nec in comessationibus eorum qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt:
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 quia vacantes potibus et dantes symbola consumentur, et vestietur pannis dormitatio.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Audi patrem tuum, qui genuit te, et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.
Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
23 Veritatem eme, et noli vendere sapientiam, et doctrinam, et intelligentiam.
Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
24 Exsultat gaudio pater justi; qui sapientem genuit, lætabitur in eo.
The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 Gaudeat pater tuus et mater tua, et exsultet quæ genuit te.
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 Præbe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi, et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 Fovea enim profunda est meretrix, et puteus angustus aliena.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 Insidiatur in via quasi latro, et quos incautos viderit, interficiet.
She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
29 Cui væ? cujus patri væ? cui rixæ? cui foveæ? cui sine causa vulnera? cui suffusio oculorum?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 nonne his qui commorantur in vino, et student calicibus epotandis?
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit, cum splenduerit in vitro color ejus: ingreditur blande,
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 sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber, et sicut regulus venena diffundet.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 Oculi tui videbunt extraneas, et cor tuum loquetur perversa.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
34 Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo.
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 Et dices: Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui; traxerunt me, et ego non sensi. Quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam?
“They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
