Mithali 23
1 Uketipo kula chakula na mtawala, angalia vyema kile kilicho mbele yako,
When you sit to eat with a ruler, Diligently consider that which [is] before you,
2 na utie kisu kooni mwako kama ukiwa mlafi.
And you have put a knife to your throat, If you [are] a man of appetite.
3 Usitamani vyakula vyake vitamu kwa kuwa chakula hicho ni cha hila.
Have no desire to his delicacies, seeing it [is] lying food.
4 Usijitaabishe ili kuupata utajiri, uwe na hekima kuonyesha kujizuia.
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 Kufumba na kufumbua utajiri hutoweka, huwa kama umepata mabawa ghafula, ukaruka na kutoweka angani kama tai.
For wealth makes wings to itself, It flies to the heavens as an eagle.
6 Usile chakula cha mtu mchoyo, usitamani vyakula vyake vitamu,
Do not eat the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his delicacies,
7 kwa maana yeye ni aina ya mtu ambaye kila mara anafikiri juu ya gharama. Anakuambia, “Kula na kunywa,” lakini moyo wake hauko pamoja nawe.
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 Utatapika kile kidogo ulichokula, nawe utakuwa umepoteza bure maneno yako ya kumsifu.
You vomit up your morsel you have eaten, And have marred your words that [are] sweet.
9 Usizungumze na mpumbavu, kwa maana atadhihaki hekima ya maneno yako.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he treads on the wisdom of your words.
10 Usisogeze jiwe la mpaka wa zamani wala kunyemelea kwenye mashamba ya yatima,
Do not remove a border of ancient times, And do not enter into fields of the fatherless,
11 kwa kuwa Mtetezi wao ni mwenye nguvu, atalichukua shauri lao dhidi yako.
For their Redeemer [is] strong, He pleads their cause with you.
12 Elekeza moyo wako kwenye mafundisho na masikio yako kwenye maneno ya maarifa.
Bring your heart to instruction, And your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Usimnyime mtoto adhabu, ukimwadhibu kwa fimbo, hatakufa.
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 Mwanangu, kama moyo wako una hekima, basi moyo wangu utafurahi,
My son, if your heart has been wise, My heart rejoices, even mine,
16 utu wangu wa ndani utafurahi, wakati midomo yako itakapozungumza lililo sawa.
And my reins exult when your lips speak uprightly.
17 Usiuruhusu moyo wako kuwaonea wivu wenye dhambi, bali kila mara uwe na bidii katika kumcha Bwana.
Do not let your heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18 Hakika kuna tumaini la baadaye kwa ajili yako, nalo tarajio lako halitakatiliwa mbali.
For is there a posterity? Then your hope is not cut off.
19 Sikiliza, mwanangu na uwe na hekima, weka moyo wako kwenye njia iliyo sawa.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And make your heart blessed in the way,
20 Usiwe miongoni mwa wanywao mvinyo, au wale walao nyama kwa pupa,
Do not become drunk with wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
21 kwa maana walevi na walafi huwa maskini, nako kusinzia huwavika matambara.
For the drunkard and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clothes with rags.
22 Msikilize baba yako, aliyekuzaa, wala usimdharau mama yako atakapokuwa mzee.
Listen to your father, who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she has become old.
23 Nunua kweli wala usiiuze, pata hekima, adabu na ufahamu.
Buy truth, and do not sell, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
24 Baba wa mwenye haki ana furaha kubwa, naye aliye na mwana mwenye hekima humfurahia.
The father of the righteous rejoices greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoices in him.
25 Baba yako na mama yako na wafurahi, mama aliyekuzaa na ashangilie!
Your father and your mother rejoice, Indeed, she bearing you is joyful.
26 Mwanangu, nipe moyo wako, macho yako na yafuate njia zangu,
Give, my son, your heart to me, And let your eyes watch my ways.
27 kwa maana kahaba ni shimo refu na mwanamke mpotovu ni kisima chembamba.
For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 Kama mnyangʼanyi, hungojea akivizia, naye huzidisha wasio waaminifu miongoni mwa wanaume.
She also, as catching prey, lies in wait, And she increases the treacherous among men.
29 Ni nani mwenye ole? Ni nani mwenye huzuni? Ni nani mwenye ugomvi? Ni nani mwenye malalamiko? Ni nani aliye na majeraha yasiyo na sababu? Ni nani mwenye macho mekundu?
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Ni hao wakaao sana kwenye mvinyo, hao waendao kuonja mabakuli ya mvinyo uliochanganywa.
Those lingering by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31 Usiukodolee macho mvinyo wakati ukiwa mwekundu, wakati unapometameta kwenye bilauri, wakati ushukapo taratibu!
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 Mwishowe huuma kama nyoka na kutia sumu yake kama nyoka mwenye sumu.
Its latter end—it bites as a serpent, And it stings as a viper.
33 Macho yako yataona mambo mageni na moyo wako kuwazia mambo yaliyopotoka.
Your eyes see strange women, And your heart speaks perverse things.
34 Utakuwa kama alalaye katikati ya bahari, alalaye juu ya kamba ya merikebu.
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 Utasema, “Wamenipiga lakini sikuumia! Wamenichapa, lakini sisikii! Nitaamka lini ili nikanywe tena?”
“They struck me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!”
