| Chapter 23 |
1 |
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well who is before thee; |
2 |
and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. |
3 |
Be not desirous of his dainties; for they are deceitful food. |
4 |
Weary not thyself to become rich; cease from thine own intelligence: |
5 |
wilt thou set thine eyes upon it, it is gone; for indeed it maketh itself wings and it flieth away as an eagle towards the heavens. |
6 |
Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties. |
7 |
For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. Eat and drink! will he say unto thee; but his heart is not with thee. |
8 |
Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up, and thou wilt have wasted thy sweet words. |
9 |
Speak not in the ears of a foolish man, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. |
10 |
Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: |
11 |
for their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause against thee. |
12 |
Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. |
13 |
Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die: |
14 |
thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol. |
15 |
My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine; |
16 |
and my reins shall exult, when thy lips speak right things. |
17 |
Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day; |
18 |
for surely there is a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. |
19 |
Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy heart in the way. |
20 |
Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. |
21 |
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness clotheth with rags. |
22 |
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. |
23 |
Buy the truth, and sell it not; wisdom, and instruction, and intelligence. |
24 |
The father of a righteous man shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise son shall have joy of him: |
25 |
let thy father and thy mother have joy, and let her that bore thee rejoice. |
26 |
My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. |
27 |
For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. |
28 |
She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men. |
29 |
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who complaining? Who wounds without cause? Who redness of eyes? |
30 |
-- They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine. |
31 |
Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly: |
32 |
at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. |
33 |
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall speak froward things; |
34 |
and thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, and as he that lieth down upon the top of a mast: |
35 |
-- ``They have smitten me, and I am not sore; they have beaten me, and I knew it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.`` |