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?”

Proverbs 23

¹When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face:

²And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.

³Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.

⁴Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.

⁵Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.

⁶Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:

⁷Because, like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.

⁸The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.

⁹Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.

¹⁰Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:

¹¹For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.

¹²Let thy heart apply itself to instruction and thy ears to words of knowledge.

¹³Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:

¹⁶And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.

¹⁷Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:

¹⁸Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.

²⁰Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:

²¹Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.

²²Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.

²³Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.

²⁵Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.

²⁶My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.

²⁷For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.

²⁹Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

³⁰Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups.

³¹Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,

³²But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.

³³Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.

³⁴And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.

³⁵And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine again?