Proverbs 23

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

1When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;

1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which <FI>is<Fi> before thee,

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

2And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.

2And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou <FI>art<Fi> a man of appetite.

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

3Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.

3Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it <FI>is<Fi> lying food.

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

4Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.

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

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.

5Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.

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

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

6Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:

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

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.

7For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.

7For as he hath thought in his soul, so <FI>is<Fi> he, `Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart <FI>is<Fi> not with thee.

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

8The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.

8Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that <FI>are<Fi> sweet.

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

9Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.

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

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

10Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;

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

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

11For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.

11For their Redeemer <FI>is<Fi> strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.

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

12Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

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

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

13Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.

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

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

14Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld.

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

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

15My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;

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

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

16And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.

16And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.

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

17Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;

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

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

18For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

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

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

19Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.

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

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

20Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:

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

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

21For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.

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

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

22Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

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

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

23Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.

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

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

24The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.

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

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

25Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.

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

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

26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.

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

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

27For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.

27For a harlot <FI>is<Fi> a deep ditch, And a strange woman <FI>is<Fi> a strait pit.

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

28Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.

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

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

29Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?

29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? 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.

30Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.

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

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

31Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:

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

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

32In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.

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

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

33Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.

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

34Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.

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

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?

35They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.

35`They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake--I seek it yet again!'