Proverbs 23

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.	1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, keep in mind who is before you;
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.	2 And put a knife to your throat if you have a ravenous appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.	3 Do not desire his delicacies; they are deceitful food.
4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.	4 Toil not to gain wealth, cease to be concerned about it;
5 Lift 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.	5 While your glance flits to it, it is gone! for assuredly it grows wings, like the eagle that flies toward heaven.
6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:	6 Do not take food with a grudging man, and do not desire his dainties;
7 Because 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.	7 For in his greed he is like a storm. "Eat and drink," he says to you, though his heart is not with you;
8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.	8 The little you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will have wasted your agreeable words.
9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.	9 Speak not for the fool's hearing; he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:	10 Remove not the ancient landmark, nor invade the fields of orphans;
11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.	11 For their redeemer is strong; he will defend their cause against you.
12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge.	12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.	13 Withhold not chastisement from a boy; if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.	14 Beat him with the rod, and you will save him from the nether world.
15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:	15 My son, if your heart be wise, my own heart also will rejoice;
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.	16 And my inmost being will exult, when your lips speak what is right.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:	17 Let not your heart emulate sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD always;
18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.	18 For you will surely have a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.	19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the right way.
20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:	20 Consort not with winebibbers, nor with those who eat meat to excess;
21 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.	21 For the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty, and torpor clothes a man in rags.
22 Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.	22 Listen to your father who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.	23 Get the truth, and sell it not-- wisdom, instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.	24 The father of a just man will exult with glee; he who begets a wise son will have joy in him.
25 Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.	25 Let your father and mother have joy; let her who bore you exult.
26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.	26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.	27 For the harlot is a deep ditch, and the adulteress a narrow pit;
28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.	28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the faithless among men.
29 Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?	29 Who scream? Who shriek? Who have strife? Who have anxiety? Who have wounds for nothing? Who have black eyes?
30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups.	30 Those who linger long over wine, those who engage in trials of blended wine.
31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,	31 Look not on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the glass. It goes down smoothly;
32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.	32 but in the end it bites like a serpent, or like a poisonous adder.
33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.	33 Your eyes behold strange sights, and your heart utters disordered thoughts;
34 And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.	34 You are like one now lying in the depths of the sea, now sprawled at the top of the mast.
35 And 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?	35 "They struck me, but it pained me not; They beat me, but I felt it not; When shall I awake to seek wine once again?"