23:1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what you see before you, |
23:2 And put a knife to your throat If you have a great appetite. |
23:3 Do not desire his delicacies, For it will prove 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 will disappear. 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 will probably prove himself. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart does not accommodate 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 has strength; 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 shows wisdom, My own heart also will have gladness; |
23:16 And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak the right things. |
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always. |
23:18 Surely there will come a future, And your hope will not become shortened. |
23:19 Listen, my son, and grow in wisdom, And direct your heart in the way. |
23:20 Do not associate 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 reaches old age. |
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 have gladness in him. |
23:25 Let your father and your mother have gladness, 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 resembles a deep pit And an adulterous woman resembles 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 looks 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 resemble 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." |