Proverbs 23

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,	1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you;
2 and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.	2 and put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.	3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.	4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist.
5 Do 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.	5 When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.	6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies;
7 For, 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.	7 for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning. "Eat and drink!" he says to you; but his heart is not with you.
8 The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.	8 You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.	9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.	10 Do not remove an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.	11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.	12 Apply your mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
13 Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.	13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.	14 If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol.
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.	15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.	16 My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.	17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.	18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.	19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
20 Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.	20 Be not among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.	21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.	22 Hearken to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.	23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.	24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.	25 Let your father and mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.	26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.	27 For a harlot is a deep pit; an adventures is a narrow well.
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.	28 She lies in wait like a robber and increases the faithless among men.
29 Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?	29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?	30 Those who tarry long over wine, those who go to try mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,	31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.	32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.	33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind utter perverse things.
34 And 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.	34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
35 And 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?”	35 "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."