Proverbiorum 23
1 Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quae apposita sunt ante faciem tuam:
When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
2 et statue cultrum in gutture tuo, si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam,
and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
3 ne desideres de cibis eius, in quo est panis mendacii.
Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Noli laborare ut diteris: sed prudentiae tuae pone modum.
Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
5 Ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes, quas non potes habere: quia facient sibi pennas quasi aquilae, et volabunt in caelum.
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.
6 Ne comedas cum homine invido, et ne desideres cibos eius:
Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
7 quoniam in similitudinem arioli, et coniectoris, aestimat quod ignorat. Comede et bibe, dicet tibi: et mens eius non est tecum.
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.
8 Cibos, quos comederas, evomes: et perdes pulchros sermones tuos.
The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
9 In auribus insipientium ne loquaris: qui despicient doctrinam eloquii tui.
Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
10 Ne attingas parvulorum terminos: et agrum pupillorum ne introeas:
Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
11 Propinquus enim illorum fortis est: et ipse iudicabit contra te causam illorum.
For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
12 Ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum: et aures tuae ad verba scientiae.
Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
13 Noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam: si enim percusseris eum virga, non morietur.
Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell. (Sheol h7585)
15 Fili mi, si sapiens fuerit animus tuus, gaudebit tecum cor meum:
My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
16 et exultabunt renes mei, cum locuta fuerint recta labia tua.
And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
17 Non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores: sed in timore Domini esto tota die:
Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
18 quia habebis spem in novissimo, et praestolatio tua non auferetur.
For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
19 Audi fili mi, et esto sapiens: et dirige in via animum tuum.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
20 Noli esse in conviviis potatorum, nec in comessationibus eorum, qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt:
Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
21 quia vacantes potibus, et dantes symbola consumentur, et vestietur pannis dormitatio.
For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
22 Audi patrem tuum, qui genuit te: et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.
Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
23 Veritatem eme, et noli vendere sapientiam, et doctrinam, et intelligentiam.
Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
24 Exultat gaudio pater iusti: qui sapientem genuit, laetabitur in eo.
The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
25 Gaudeat pater tuus, et mater tua, et exultet quae genuit te.
Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
26 Praebe fili mi cor tuum mihi: et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.
My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27 Fovea enim profunda est meretrix: et puteus angustus, aliena.
For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
28 Insidiatur in via quasi latro, et quos incautos viderit, interficiet.
She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
29 Cui vae? cuius patri vae? cui rixae? cui foveae? cui sine causa vulnera? cui suffusio oculorum?
Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30 Nonne his, qui commorantur in vino, et student calicibus epotandis?
Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31 Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit, cum splenduerit in vitro color eius: ingreditur blande,
Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32 sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber, et sicut regulus venena diffundet.
but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
33 Oculi tui videbunt extraneas, et cor tuum loquetur perversa.
Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
34 Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo:
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.
35 et dices: Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui: traxerunt me, et ego non sensi: quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam?
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?”
