Proverbs 23

Do Not Wear Yourself Out to Get Rich

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23:1If you sit to dine at the table of rulers,
thoughtfully consider what is set before you,

23:2and lay your hand to it,
knowing that you must prepare such things;

23:3but if you are more insatiable, do not desire his foods,
for these belong to a false life.

23:4Do not stretch yourself, being poor, to match a rich man,
but hold back in your own reflection;

23:5If you fix your eye upon him, he will appear nowhere,
for wings like an eagle’s have been prepared for him,
and he returns to the house of the one who presides over him.

23:6Do not dine with a begrudging man,
and do not desire his foods,

23:7for as if someone swallowed a hair,
so he eats and drinks.

23:8Do not bring him in to yourself and eat your morsel with him,
for he will vomit it and ruin your good words.

23:9Say nothing into a fool’s ears,
lest he sneer at your intelligent words.

23:10Do not move everlasting boundaries,
and do not enter an orphan’s property,

23:11for the Lord who redeems them is mighty,
and He will judge their case with you.

23:12Give your heart to discipline,
and prepare your ears for words of discernment.

23:13Do not refrain from disciplining a little child,
for if you strike him with a rod, he will certainly not die;

23:14for you will strike him with a rod,
but rescue his life from death.

23:15Son, if your heart becomes wise,
you will gladden my heart too,

23:16and your lips will spend time in words
with my lips, if the words are upright.

23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but be in the fear of the Lord the whole day;

23:18for if you keep these things, you will have offspring,
and your hope will not depart.

23:19Listen, son, and become wise,
and straighten the reflections of your heart.

23:20Do not be a wine-drinker,
and do not stretch yourself over contributions and purchases of meat;

23:21for every drunkard and frequenter of prostitutes will become poor,
and every sleepy person will clothe himself in torn and ragged things.

23:22Listen, son, to the father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother because she has grown old.

23:24A righteous father brings up well,
and his life rejoices over a wise son;

23:25let father and mother rejoice over you,
and let the one who bore you be glad.

23:26Give me your heart, son,
and let your eyes keep my ways;

23:27for another’s house is a jar with holes,
and another’s well is narrow;

23:28for this will swiftly perish,
and every lawless person will be consumed.

23:29Who has woe? Who has uproar? Who has a lawsuit?
Who has unpleasantness and chatter?
Who has bruises for nothing?
Whose eyes are livid?

23:30Is it not those who linger over wines?
Is it not those who track down where drinking parties take place?

23:31Do not become drunk with wine, but associate with righteous people,
and converse during walks;
for if you give your eyes to bowls and cups,
afterward you will walk about barer than a pestle.

23:32But at the end he lies stretched out as though struck by a snake,
and as though by a horned viper its poison spreads through him.

23:33When your eyes see another woman,
then your mouth will speak crooked things,

23:34and you will lie down as in the heart of the sea,
and like a helmsman in heavy surging;

23:35and you will say, “They strike me, and I felt no pain;
they mocked me, but I did not know.
When will dawn come,
so that I may go and seek those with whom I will gather?”

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.