1 The Fear of Yahweh When you sit down to dine with a ruler,Understand well 23:1Or who what is before you,
2 So you should put a knife to your throatIf you are a man of appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,For it is bread of falsehood.
4 ¶Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,Because of your understanding, cease!
5 Do you make your eyes flyup to see it? But it is not there!Because it certainly makes itself wingsLike an eagle that fliestowardthe heavens.
6 ¶Do not eat the bread of 23:6Lit an evil eye a selfish man,And do not desire his delicacies;
7 For as he 23:7 Lit reckons in his soul calculates in his soul, so he is.“Eat and drink!” he says to you,But his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up 23:8Lit your the morsel you have eaten,And you will corrupt your pleasant words.
9 ¶Do not speak in the 23:9Lit ears hearing of a fool,For he will despise the insight of your speech.
10 ¶Do not move the ancient boundaryAnd do not come into the fields of the orphans,
11 For their Redeemer is strong;He will plead their case against you.
12 Bring your heart to disciplineAnd your ears to 23:12Lit sayings words of knowledge.
13 ¶Do not withhold discipline from the child,Although you 23:13Lit smite strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You shall 23:14Lit smite strike him with the rodAnd deliver his soul from Sheol.
15 ¶My son, if your heart is wise,My own heart also will be glad;
16 And my 23:16Lit kidneys inmost being will exultWhen your lips speak upright things.
17 ¶Do not let your heart be jealous of sinners,Butbe zealousin the 23:17Or reverence fear of Yahweh 23:17Lit all the day always.
18 Surely there is a 23:18Lit latter end future,And your hope will not be cut off.
19 You, my son, listen and be wise,And direct your heart in the way.
20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,Orwith gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,And drowsiness will clothethemwith rags.
22 ¶Listen to your father who begot you,And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sellit,Getwisdom and discipline and understanding.
24 ¶The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad,And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26 ¶Give your heart to me, my son,And let your eyes 23:26Or observe delight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pitAnd 23:27Or an adulterous, cf. Prov 2:16 a foreign woman is a narrow well.
28 Surely she lies in wait as a robber,And adds to the treacherous among men.
29 ¶Who has woe? Who has sorrow?Who has contentions? Who has complaining?Who has wounds without cause?Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long over wine,Those who go to search out mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it glistens red,When it 23:31Lit gives its eye sparkles in the cup,When it goes down smoothly;
32 At the end—like a serpent it bites,And like a viper it stings.
33 Your eyes will see strange thingsAnd your heart will 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 23:34Or lookout mast.
35 “They struck me,butI did not become 23:35From the effect of wounds ill;They beat me,butI did not knowit.When shall I awake?I will seek yet another.”