23:1 WHEN YOU sit down to eat with a ruler, consider who {and} what are before you; |
23:2 For you will put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to desire. |
23:3 Be not desirous of his dainties, for it is deceitful food [offered with questionable motives]. |
23:4 Weary not yourself to be rich; cease from your own [human] wisdom. |
23:5 Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. |
23:6 Eat not the bread of him who has a hard, grudging, {and} envious eye, neither desire his dainty foods; |
23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you [but is grudging the cost]. |
23:8 The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, and your complimentary words will be wasted. |
23:9 Speak not in the ears of a [self-confident] fool, for he will despise the [godly] Wisdom of your words. |
23:10 Remove not the ancient landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless, |
23:11 For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you. |
23:12 Apply your mind to instruction {and} correction and your ears to words of knowledge. |
23:13 Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike {and} punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die. |
23:14 You shall whip him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). |
23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad, even mine; |
23:16 Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak right things. |
23:17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent {and} worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long. |
23:18 For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope {and} expectation shall not be cut off. |
23:19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way [of the Lord]. |
23:20 Do not associate with winebibbers; be not among them {nor} among gluttonous eaters of meat, |
23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. |
23:22 Hearken to your father, who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old. |
23:23 Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment {and} judgment, instruction and understanding. |
23:24 The father of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him. |
23:25 Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice. |
23:26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe {and} delight in my ways, |
23:27 For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a loose woman is a narrow pit. |
23:28 She also lies in wait as a robber {or} as one waits for prey, and she increases the treacherous among men. |
23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness {and} dimness of eyes? |
23:30 Those who tarry long at the wine, those who go to seek {and} try mixed wine. |
23:31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the wineglass, when it goes down smoothly. |
23:32 At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. |
23:33 [Under the influence of wine] your eyes will behold strange things [and loose women] and your mind will utter things turned the wrong way [untrue, incorrect, and petulant]. |
23:34 Yes, you will be [as unsteady] as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, and [as open to disaster] as he who lies upon the top of a mast. |
23:35 You will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt! They beat me [as with a hammer], but I did not feel it! When shall I awake? I will crave {and} seek more wine again [and escape reality]. |