(A)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth;
[a](B)Stop dwelling on it.
[b]When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For (C)wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

(D)Do not eat the bread of [c]a (E)selfish person;
Or desire his delicacies;
For as he [d]thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But (F)his heart is not with you.
You will (G)vomit up [e]the morsel you have eaten
And waste your [f]compliments.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:4 Lit Refrain from your understanding of it
  2. Proverbs 23:5 Lit Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not?
  3. Proverbs 23:6 Lit an evil eye
  4. Proverbs 23:7 Lit reckons in his soul
  5. Proverbs 23:8 Lit your
  6. Proverbs 23:8 Lit pleasant words

Don’t wear yourself out to get rich;(A)
because you know better, stop!
As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears,(B)
for it makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread,[a](C)
and don’t desire his choice food,(D)
for it’s like someone calculating inwardly.[b](E)
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.(F)
You will vomit the little you’ve eaten
and waste your pleasant words.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:6 Lit eat bread of an evil eye
  2. 23:7 LXX reads it is like someone swallowing a hair in the throat

Saying 8

Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
    do not trust your own cleverness.
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,(A)
    for they will surely sprout wings
    and fly off to the sky like an eagle.(B)

Saying 9

Do not eat the food of a begrudging host,
    do not crave his delicacies;(C)
for he is the kind of person
    who is always thinking about the cost.[a]
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
    but his heart is not with you.
You will vomit up the little you have eaten
    and will have wasted your compliments.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:7 Or for as he thinks within himself, / so he is; or for as he puts on a feast, / so he is