Proverbs 23

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:

2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.

2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

7 for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

8 You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

11 for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.

11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

14 Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.

15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.

19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23 Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.

28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.

30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:

34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

35 “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”

35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.