Proverbs 23

¹When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face

²and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power

³Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit

⁴Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence

⁵Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky

⁶Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods

⁷For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you

⁸The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words

⁹Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence

¹⁰Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless

¹¹For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you

¹²Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge

¹³Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die

¹⁴You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell

¹⁵My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you

¹⁶And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright

¹⁷Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long

¹⁸For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way

²⁰Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh

²¹For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags

²²Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old

²³Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding

²⁴The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him

²⁵Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult

²⁶My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways

²⁷For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well

²⁸She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death

²⁹Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes

³⁰Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups

³¹Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly

³²but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes

³³Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities

³⁴And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm

³⁵And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?