Proverbs 23
23
1 When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
2 and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
5 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 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
7 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 The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
10 Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
13 Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
17 Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
20 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 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 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
24 The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
26 My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
29 Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32 but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
34 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 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?"
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Proverbs 23
23
1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well who 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 food.
4Weary not thyself to become rich; cease from thine own intelligence: 5wilt thou set thine eyes upon it, it is gone; for indeed it maketh itself wings and it flieth away as an eagle towards the heavens.
6Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties. 7For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. Eat and drink! will he say unto thee; but his heart is not with thee. 8Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up, and thou wilt have wasted thy sweet words.
9Speak not in the ears of a foolish man, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 11for their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause against thee.
12Apply thy 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 Sheol. 15My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine; 16and my reins shall exult, when thy lips speak right things.
17Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day; 18for surely there is a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy 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 clotheth 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; wisdom, and instruction, and intelligence. 24The father of a righteous man shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise son shall have joy of him: 25let thy father and thy mother have joy, and let her that bore thee rejoice. 26My son, give me thy 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 a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.
29Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who complaining? Who wounds without cause? Who redness of eyes? 30— They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine. 31Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly: 32at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall speak froward things; 34and thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, and as he that lieth down upon the top of a mast: 35— ‘They have smitten me, and I am not sore; they have beaten me, and I knew it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.’
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.