Proverbs 23

¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, thou shall 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!