Proverbs

23 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler Thou shalt consider well what is before thee;

2 And shalt put a knife to thy throat, If of great appetite thou art:

3 Do not crave his dainties, For the same are deceitful food.

4 Do not toil to get wealth, Of thine own understanding forbear:

5 Wilt thou let thine eye fly thereupon when it is nothing? For it will surely make itself wings, Like an eagle will it wing its way across the heavens.

6 Do not eat the food of him that hath a begrudging eye, Neither crave thou his dainties;

7 For just as he hath thought in his own mind so he is: Eat and drink! he may say to thee, But his heart is not with thee.

8 As for thy morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit it, So shalt thou waste thy things so sweet.

9 In the ears of a dullard do not speak, For he will despise the good sense of thy words.

10 Do not move back the ancient boundary, And into the fields of the fatherless do not enter;

11 For their near of kin is strong, He will plead their cause with thee.

12 Bring to correction thy heart, And thine ears to the sayings of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold from a child correction, When thou smitest him with the rod he shall not die:

14 Thou with the rod shalt smite him, And his soul from hades shalt thou deliver.

15 My son! if thy heart be wise My heart shall rejoice even mine.

16 So shall my reins exult, When thy lips speak the things that are right.

17 Let not thy heart be envious of sinners, Only of the reverence of Yahweh all day long;

18 For surely there is a future, And thine expectation shall not be cut off.

19 Hear thou my son and be wise, And lead forward in duty thy heart.

20 Do not be among them who tipple with wine,—Among them who are gluttons;

21 For the tippler and the glutton shall come to poverty, And rags shall Slumber put on!

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

23 Truth buy thou but do not sell, Wisdom and correction and understanding.

24 Greatly shall exult the father of a righteous man, And he that begetteth a wise son shall rejoice in him:

25 Rejoice shall thy father and thy mother, Yea she shall exult who bare thee.

26 Oh give, my son, thy mind unto me, And let thine eyes observe my ways;

27 For a deep chasm is the unchaste woman, And a narrow pit the female unknown;

28 Yea she as for prey lieth in wait, And the treacherous among mankind she causeth to abound.

29 Who hath woe? Who hath outcry of pain? Who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? Who hath needless wounds? Who hath dullness of eyes?

30 They who tarry over wine, They who go in to search for mixed wine.

31 Do not look on wine when it becometh red, When it giveth in the cup its sparkle, Glideth down smoothly.

32 Its after effect is that like a serpent it biteth, And like a viper it doth sting.

33 Thine eyes will see strange women, And thy heart will speak perverse things:

34 So shalt thou become as one lying down in the heart of the sea,—Or as one lying down on the top of the mastgear:

35 They smote me—I felt no pain, They struck me down—I noticed it not,—When shall I wake up? I will go on, I will seek it again!