23:1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you, |
23:2 And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of {great} appetite. |
23:3 Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food. |
23:4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration {of it.} |
23:5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For {wealth} certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies {toward} the heavens. |
23:6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies; |
23:7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink! But his heart is not with you." |
23:8 You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments. |
23:9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words. |
23:10 Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless, |
23:11 For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you. |
23:12 Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge. |
23:13 Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. |
23:14 You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol. |
23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad; |
23:16 And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right. |
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But {live} in the fear of the LORD always. |
23:18 Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off. |
23:19 Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way. |
23:20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, {Or} with gluttonous eaters of meat; |
23:21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe {one} with rags. |
23:22 Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. |
23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell {it,} {Get} wisdom and instruction and understanding. |
23:24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him. |
23:25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you. |
23:26 Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways. |
23:27 For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well. |
23:28 Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men. |
23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? |
23:30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. |
23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; |
23:32 At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. |
23:33 Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. |
23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. |
23:35 "They struck me, {but} I did not become ill; They beat me, {but} I did not know {it.} When shall I awake? I will seek another drink." |