23
On Life and Conduct
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully
1what is before you,
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a
Aman of
great appetite.
3 Do not
Adesire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
4 ADo not weary yourself to gain wealth,
BCease from your
1consideration
of it. 5 1When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For
Awealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6 ADo not eat the bread of
1a
Bselfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;
7 For as he
1thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But
Ahis heart is not with you.
8 You will
Avomit up
1the morsel you have eaten,
And waste your
2compliments.
9 ADo not speak in the
1hearing of a fool,
For he will
Bdespise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not move the ancient boundary
Or
Ago into the fields of the fatherless,
11 For their
ARedeemer is strong;
BHe will plead their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to discipline
And your ears to words of knowledge.
13 ADo not hold back discipline from the child,
Although you
1strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You shall
1strike him with the rod
And
Arescue his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is
Awise,
My own heart also will be glad;
16 And my
1inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak
Awhat is right.
17 ADo not let your heart envy sinners,
But
live in the
1Bfear of the Loʀᴅ
2always.
18 Surely there is a
1Afuture,
And your
Bhope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and
Abe wise,
And
Bdirect your heart in the way.
20 Do not be with
Aheavy drinkers of wine,
Or with
Bgluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the
Aheavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And
Bdrowsiness will clothe
one with rags.
22 AListen to your father who begot you,
And
Bdo not despise your mother when she is old.
23 ABuy truth, and do not sell
it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And
Ahe who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your
Afather and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26 AGive me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes
1Bdelight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a
Adeep pit
And an
1Badulterous woman is a narrow well.
28 Surely she
Alurks as a robber,
And increases the
1faithless among men.
29 Who has
Awoe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who
Alinger long over wine,
Those who go to
1taste
Bmixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it
1sparkles in the cup,
When it
Agoes down smoothly;
32 At the last it
Abites like a serpent
And stings like a
Bviper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things
And your
1mind will
Autter perverse things.
34 And you will be like one who lies down in the
1middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a
2mast.
35 “They
Astruck me,
but I did not become
1ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will
Bseek
2another drink.”