Proverbs

Saying 7

1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,consider carefully what is set before you,

2and put a knife to your throatif you possess a great appetite.

3Do not crave his delicacies,for that food is deceptive.

Saying 8

4Do not wear yourself out to get rich;be wise enough to restrain yourself.

5When you glance at wealth, it disappears,for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Saying 9

6Do not eat the bread of a stingy man,and do not crave his delicacies;

7for he is keeping track,inwardly counting the cost.“Eat and drink,” he says to you,but his heart is not with you.

8You will vomit up what little you have eatenand waste your pleasant words.

Saying 10

9Do not speak to a fool,for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Saying 11

10Do not move an ancient boundary stoneor encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

11for their Redeemer is strong;He will take up their case against you.

Saying 12

12Apply your heart to instructionand your ears to words of knowledge.

Saying 13

13Do not withhold discipline from a child;although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14Strike him with a rod,and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

Saying 14

15My son, if your heart is wise,my own heart will indeed rejoice.

16My inmost beingwill rejoicewhen your lips speak what is right.

Saying 15

17Do not let your heart envy sinners,but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

18For surely there is a future,and your hope will not be cut off.

Saying 16

19Listen, my son, and be wise,and guide your heart on the right course.

20Do not join those who drink too much wineor gorge themselves on meat.

21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Saying 17

22Listen to your father who gave you life,and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

25May your father and mother be glad,and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

Saying 18

26My son, give me your heart,and let your eyes delight in my ways.

27For a prostitute is a deep pit,and an adulteressis a narrow well.

28Like a robber she lies in waitand multiplies the faithless among men.

Saying 19

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30Those who linger over wine,who go to taste mixed drinks.

31Do not gaze at wine while it is red,when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

32In the end it bites like a snakeand stings like a viper.

33Your eyes will see strange things,and your mind will utter perversities.

34You will be like one sleeping on the high seasor lying on the top of a mast:

35“They struck me, but I feel no pain!They beat me, but I did not know it!When can I wake upto search for another drink?”

1When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.

2And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.

3Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.

4Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.

5Lift 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.

6Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:

7Because 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.

8The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.

9Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.

10Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:

11For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.

12Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.

13Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.

14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.

15My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:

16And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.

17Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:

18Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.

19Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.

20Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:

21Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.

22Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.

25Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.

26My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.

27For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

28She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.

29Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.

31Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,

32But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.

33Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.

34And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.

35And 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?