Proverbs 23
1When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
2and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
3Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
4Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
5Do 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.
6Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
7For, 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.
8The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
9Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
10Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
11For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
12Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
13Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.
15My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
16And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
17Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
18For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
19Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
20Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
21For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
22Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
23Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
24The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
25Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
26My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
28She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
29Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
33Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
34And 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.
35And 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?”
1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
4Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
12Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
18For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
20Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
26My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.