Proverbs 23
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
23 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
5 Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.
6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 Because like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.
8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.
31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.
35 And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?
Proverbs 23
Legacy Standard Bible
The Fear of Yahweh
23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Understand well [a]what is before you,
2 So you should put a knife to your throat
If you are a (A)man of appetite.
3 Do not (B)desire his delicacies,
For it is bread of falsehood.
4 (C)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
(D)Because of your understanding, cease!
5 Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there!
Because (E)it certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6 (F)Do not eat the bread of [b]a (G)selfish man,
And do not desire his delicacies;
7 For as he [c]calculates in his soul, so he is.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But (H)his heart is not with you.
8 You will (I)vomit up [d]the morsel you have eaten,
And you will corrupt your pleasant words.
10 Do not move the ancient boundary
And do not (L)come into the fields of the orphans,
11 For their (M)Redeemer is strong;
(N)He will plead their case against you.
12 Bring your heart to discipline
And your ears to [f]words of knowledge.
13 (O)Do not withhold discipline from the child,
Although you [g]strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You shall [h]strike him with the rod
And (P)deliver his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is (Q)wise,
My own heart also will be glad;
16 And my [i]inmost being will exult
When your lips speak (R)upright things.
17 (S)Do not let your heart be jealous of sinners,
But be zealous in the [j](T)fear of Yahweh [k]always.
18 Surely there is a [l](U)future,
And your (V)hope will not be cut off.
19 You, my son, listen and (W)be wise,
And (X)direct your heart in the way.
20 Do not be with (Y)heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with (Z)gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the (AA)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And (AB)drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
22 (AC)Listen to your father who begot you,
And (AD)do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 (AE)Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom and discipline and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And (AF)he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your (AG)father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26 (AH)Give your heart to me, my son,
And let your eyes [m](AI)delight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a (AJ)deep pit
And [n]a (AK)foreign woman is a narrow well.
28 Surely she (AL)lies in wait as a robber,
And adds to the treacherous among men.
29 Who has (AM)woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who (AN)linger long over wine,
Those who go to search out (AO)mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it glistens red,
When it [o]sparkles in the cup,
When it (AP)goes down smoothly;
32 At the end—like a serpent it (AQ)bites,
And like a (AR)viper it stings.
33 Your eyes will see strange things
And your heart will (AS)speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like one who lies down in the heart of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a [p]mast.
35 “They (AT)struck me, but I did not become [q]ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will (AU)seek yet another.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Or who
- Proverbs 23:6 Lit an evil eye
- Proverbs 23:7 Lit reckons in his soul
- Proverbs 23:8 Lit your
- Proverbs 23:9 Lit ears
- Proverbs 23:12 Lit sayings
- Proverbs 23:13 Lit smite
- Proverbs 23:14 Lit smite
- Proverbs 23:16 Lit kidneys
- Proverbs 23:17 Or reverence
- Proverbs 23:17 Lit all the day
- Proverbs 23:18 Lit latter end
- Proverbs 23:26 Or observe
- Proverbs 23:27 Or an adulterous, cf. Prov 2:16
- Proverbs 23:31 Lit gives its eye
- Proverbs 23:34 Or lookout
- Proverbs 23:35 From the effect of wounds
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.