Proverbs 23

¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,

² And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.

³ Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.

⁴ Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.

⁵ For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.

⁶ Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,

⁷ For as he hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, ‘Eat and drink,’ saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.

⁸ Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.

⁹ In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰ Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,

¹¹ For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.

¹² Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.

¹³ Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.

¹⁴ Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.

¹⁵ My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,

¹⁶ And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.

¹⁷ Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But — in the fear of Jehovah all the day.

¹⁸ For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,

²⁰ Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,

²¹ For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.

²² Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.

²³ Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,

²⁴ The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.

²⁵ Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.

²⁶ Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.

²⁷ For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.

²⁸ She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.

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

³⁰ Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.

³¹ See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.

³² Its latter end — as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.

³³ Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.

³⁴ And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.

³⁵ ‘They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake — I seek it yet again!’