Proverbs 31:1-9

Wycliffe Bible

31 The words of Lemuel, the king; the vision by which his mother taught him.

² What, my darling? what, the darling of my womb? what, the darling of my desires? (What, my darling? what is it, the darling of my womb? what is it, the answer to my prayers?)

³ Give thou not thy chattel to women (Give thou not all thy substance to women), and thy riches to do away kings.

⁴ A! Lemuel, do not thou give wine to kings; for no private there is, where drunkenness reigneth. (O! Lemuel, do not thou give wine to kings; for there is no secret place, where drunkenness can reign.)

⁵ Lest peradventure they drink, and forget dooms, and change the cause of the sons of a poor man. (Lest perhaps they drink, and forget justice, and pervert the cause of the poor.)

⁶ Give ye cider to them that mourn, and wine to them that be of bitter soul.

⁷ Drink they, and forget they their neediness; and think they no more on their sorrow.

⁸ Open thy mouth for a dumb man, and open thy mouth for the causes of all sons that pass forth. (Speak thou for the dumb, and for the causes of all those who pass forth before thee.)

⁹ Deem thou that that is just, and deem thou a needy man and a poor man. (Judge thou with judgement, or with discernment, and give thou justice to the needy and to the poor.)