Proverbs 23
1If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince, 1 Consider attentively the things set before thee: 1
2And apply thy hand, 1 Knowing that it behooves thee to prepare such meats: 1 But if thou art very insatiable,
3desire not his provisions; 1 For these belong to a false life. 1
4If thou art poor, measure not thyself with a rich man; 1 But refrain thyself in thy wisdom. 1
5If thou shouldest fix thine eye upon him, he will disappear; 1 For wings like an eagle’s are prepared for him, 1 And he returns to the house of his master. 1
6Sup not with an envious man, 1 Neither desire thou his meats: 1
7So he eats and drinks 1 As if anyone should swallow a hair, 1 And do not bring him in to thyself, nor eat thy morsel with him: 1
8For he will vomit it up, and spoil thy fair words. 1
9Say nothing in the ears of a fool, 1 Lest at any time he sneer at thy wise words. 1
10Remove not the ancient landmarks; 1 And enter not upon the possession of the fatherless: 1
11For the Lord is their redeemer; 1 He is mighty, and will plead their cause with thee. 1
12Apply thy heart to instruction, 1 And prepare thine ears for words of discretion. 1
13Refrain not from chastening a child; 1 For if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die. 1
14For thou shalt beat him with the rod, 1 And shalt deliver his soul from death. 1
15Son, if thy heart be wise, 1 Thou shalt also gladden my heart; 1
16And thy lips shall converse with my lips, 1 If they be right. 1
17Let not thy heart envy sinners: 1 But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day. 1
18For if thou shouldest keep these things, thou shalt have posterity; 1 And thy hope shall not be removed. 1
19Hear, my son, and be wise, 1 And rightly direct the thoughts of thy heart. 1
20Be not a wine bibber, 1 Neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh: 1
21For every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; 1 And every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments. 1
22Hearken, my son, to thy father which begot thee, 1 And despise not thy mother because she is grown old. 1
24A righteous father brings up his children well; 1 And his soul rejoices over a wise son. 1
25Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, 1 And let her that bore thee be glad. 1
26My son, give me thy heart, 1 And let thine eyes observe my ways. 1
27For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; 1 And a strange well is narrow. 1
28For such a one shall perish suddenly; 1 And every transgressor shall be cut off. 1
29Who has woe? who trouble? who has quarrels? 1 And who vexations and disputes? 1 Who has bruises without a cause? 1 Whose eyes are livid? 1
30Are not those of them that stay long at wine? 1 Are not those of them that haunt the places where banquets are? 1 Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, 1 And converse with them openly. 1
31For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, 1 Thou shalt afterward go more naked than a pestle. 1
32But at last such a one stretches himself out as one smitten by a serpent, 1 And venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent. 1
33Whenever thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, 1 Then thy mouth shall speak perverse things. 1
34And thou shalt lie as in the midst of the sea, 1 And as a pilot in a great storm. 1
35And thou shalt say, They smote me, and I was not pained; 1 And they mocked me, and I knew it not: 1 When will it be morning, that I may go and seek those with whom I may go in company?