Proverbs, 23

1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:

1. If you sit at a table with a great man, beware of what is in front of you;

2. And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite.

2. if your appetite is too great, put a knife to your throat.

3. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat.

3. Do not greedily desire his fine food for it is deceptive nourishment.

4. Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

4. Do not wear yourself out trying to be rich, do not dwell on it.

5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

5. Set your eyes on wealth and it no longer exists; it sprouts wings and flies into the sky like an eagle.

6. Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

6. Do not eat with the wicked man or be greedy for his choice food.

7. For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.

7. All is appearance, for he plots in his heart. "Eat and drink," he says but he is not to be trusted.

8. The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

8. You will spit it out as soon as it is tasted and your words of praise will be wasted.

9. Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

9. Do not speak with a fool; he will not be able to appreciate your remarks.

10. Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

10. Do not move the ancient boundaries or take possession of the orphan's land because his Avenger is powerful;

11. For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

11. he will take sides against you.

12. Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

12. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of wisdom.

13. Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

13. Do not hold back from correcting a youth; the rod will not kill him.

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

14. With several strokes, you save him from death.

15. My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

15. My son, if your heart is wise, then my own heart is glad,

16. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

16. and my whole being will rejoice when you speak the truth.

17. Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

17. Do not envy sinners but, each day, fear Yahweh; then you will have a future and

18. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

18. your hope will not be in vain.

19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

19. Listen, my son, and you will be wise and you will make your heart go straight on its way.

20. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

20. Do not be one of those who get drunk with wine or who stuff themselves with meat,

21. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.

21. since the drunkard and the glutton impoverish themselves and the sleepyhead is clothed in rags.

22. Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

22. Listen to your father who begot you; do not despise your mother in her old age.

23. Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23. Acquire truth and never sell it; gain wisdom, discipline and discernment.

24. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.

24. Happy the father of a virtuous man! How he will rejoice,

25. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

25. he who fathers a wise man! May your father and mother rejoice and may she who bore you be glad.

26. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

26. My son, give me your heart, that your eyes may delight in my ways.

27. For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.

27. You should know that the prostitute is a deep abyss and the unknown woman a narrow well.

28. She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

28. Like a thief she lies in wait and she increases the sinners among men.

29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

29. For whom are the cries and laments? For whom the complaints and sighs? For whom the blows without reason? For whom the eyes which see double?

30. They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

30. For those who abandon themselves to wine and go in search of the well-blended wine.

31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright.

31. Do not consider the wine: how red it is and how sparkling the glass! How smoothly it flows!

32. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

32. In the end, it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

33. Your eyes will see strange things and you will end up speaking nonsense.

34. Yea, 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.

34. You will be like a man asleep on the high seas or at the rudder: "They hit me but I am not hurt.

35. They 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.

35. They beat me but I feel nothing. When will I wake up? I will go in search of more."