Proverbs 23:1-35
23 * When you sit down to eat a meal with a ruleryou will take good notice what it is that is before you,
2 And you will set a knife to your chinif you are a man of appetite.
3 Do not be greedy for his tidbits;that is bread of false pretense.
4 * Do not slave to get rich;leave off your longheadedness.
5 *** Your eyes fly to it and it is not there,because riches take winglike a vulture flying into the sky.
6 Do not take a meal with a stingy mannor be greedy for his tidbits,
7 For he is just like one who has a storm in his soul:“Eat and drink,” he will say to you,but you do not have his heart with you.
8 You will be vomiting out the mouthful you have eatenand will have thrown away your fine words.
9 Do not talk for a fool to hear,because he will despise the judiciousness of your words.
10 Do not displace an old-time boundary-marknor go into an orphan’s land,
11 Because their Guardian is strong;it will be he that will fight out their case with you.
12 Bring instruction your heartand words of knowledge your ears.
13 Do not let a boy go without discipline;because you strike him with a cudgel he will not die.
14 It will be you with the cudgel that are striking him,and you will be delivering his life from the world below.
15 My son, if your heart is wisemy own heart will be glad;
16 And my breast will exultwhen your lips speak by line and level.
17 Let your heart not be emulous of sinnersbut of the fear of Jehovah all day;
18 * But there is a futureand your hope will not be dashed.
19 * Hear this, you son of mine, and be wise,and set your heart straight on the course.
20 Do not be among thosewho drink wine and eat meat recklessly,
21 Because a reckless drinker and eater will lose everything he hasand sleepiness gives a coat of rags.
22 Listen to your father that brought you to birth,and do not despise your mother when she grows old.
23 * Buy truth, and do not sellwisdom and training and discernment.
24 * Jubilant will be a right-doer’s father,and he who has brought to birth a wise man will be glad of him.
25 Let your father and mother be gladand her who gave you birth jubilant.
26 Give me your attention, my son,and have an eye to my courses,
27 * Because a stranger woman is a deep pitfalland a foreign woman is a narrow well;
28 She too lies in ambush as a highwayman does,and adds to the amount of disloyalty among men.
29 * Who has “ouch”? who has “ow”?who has quarrels? who has complaining?Who has wounds for nothing?who has black eyes?
30 Those who sit late over wine,those who go in to investigate mixed drinks.
31 * Do not look on wine when it glows redly,when it shows its looks in the cup,runs smoothly;
32 The future of it will be that it bites like a snakeand stings like a cobra.
33 Your eyes will see abnormal thingsand your lips will speak absurd things,
34 ** And you will be like one lying down in mid-oceanand like a sailor in a heavy sea.
35 “They struck me, I was not hurt;they pounded me, I did not know it;When shall I wake up?I will go after it over again.”
Footnotes
^ 23:1 Or who it is
^ 23:4 (longheadedness) Unc., susp.
^ 23:5 Codd.* Do your eyes fly to it?
^ 23:5 Codd. because it does take wing
^ 23:5 Lit. grow wings
^ 23:18 Var. For if you keep it there is a future
^ 23:19 Lit. Hear, you son of mine
^ 23:23 Or not sell it, wisdom and
^ 23:24 Var. father, who has brought to birth a wise man, and will have gladness from him
^ 23:27 Var. Because a prostitute is
^ 23:29 Or red eyes
^ 23:31 Or because it glows redly, because it
^ 23:34 Susp.
^ 23:34 Var. and like one lying down on the top of a mast (unc.)
