Proverbs 23
1When you sit to eat with a ruler, 2 consider diligently what is before you; 1
2put a knife to your throat, 2 if you are a man given to appetite. 1
3Don’t be desirous of his dainties, 2 since they are deceitful food. 1
4Don’t weary yourself to be rich. 2 In your wisdom, show restraint. 1
5Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? 2 For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky. 1
6Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, 2 and don’t crave his delicacies: 2
7for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. 2 “Eat and drink!” he says to you, 2 but his heart is not with you. 1
8The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, 2 and lose your good words. 1
9Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, 2 for he will despise the wisdom of your words. 1
10Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. 2 Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless: 1
11for their Defender is strong. 2 He will plead their case against you. 1
12Apply your heart to instruction, 2 and your ears to the words of knowledge. 1
13Don’t withhold correction from a child. 2 If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. 1
14Punish him with the rod, 2 and save his soul from Sheol ·Place of the dead·. 1
15My son, if your heart is wise, 2 then my heart will be glad, even mine: 1
16yes, my heart will rejoice, 2 when your lips speak what is right. 1
17Don’t let your heart envy people who sin ·intentionally miss the mark goal·; 2 but rather fear Adonai all the day long. 1
18Indeed surely there is a future hope, 2 and your hope will not be cut off. 1
19Sh'ma ·Hear obey·, my son, and be wise, 2 and keep your heart on the right path! 1
20Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, 2 or those who gorge themselves on meat: 1
21for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; 2 and drowsiness clothes them in rags. 1
22Sh'ma ·Hear obey· your father who gave you life, 2 and don’t despise your mother when she is old. 1
23Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. 2 Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding. 1
24The father of the upright has great joy. 2 Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him. 1
25Let your father and your mother be glad! 2 Let her who bore you rejoice! 1
26My son, give me your heart; 2 and let your eyes keep in my ways. 1
27For a prostitute is a deep pit; 2 and a wayward wife is a narrow well. 1
28Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, 2 and increases the unfaithful among men. 1
29Who has woe? 2 Who has sorrow? 2 Who has strife? 2 Who has complaints? 2 Who has needless bruises? 2 Who has bloodshot eyes? 1
30Those who stay long at the wine; 2 those who go to seek out mixed wine. 1
31Don’t look at the wine when it is red, 2 when it sparkles in the cup, 2 when it goes down smoothly. 1
32In the end, it bites like a snake, 2 and poisons like a viper. 1
33Your eyes will see strange things, 2 and your mind will imagine confusing things. 1
34Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, 2 or as he who lies on top of the rigging: 1
35“They hit me, and I was not hurt! 2 They beat me, and I don’t feel it! 2 When will I wake up? I can do it again. 2 I can find another.”