Proverbs 23

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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 dine with a ruler, keep in mind who 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 have a ravenous appetite.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.	3 Do not desire his delicacies; they are deceitful food.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.	4 Toil not to gain wealth, cease to be concerned about it;
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 While your glance flits to it, it is gone! for assuredly it grows wings, like the eagle that flies toward heaven.
6 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.	6 Do not take food with a grudging man, and do not desire his dainties;
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 in his greed he is like a storm. "Eat and drink," he says to you, though 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 The little you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will have wasted your agreeable words.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.	9 Speak not for the fool's hearing; 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 Remove not the ancient landmark, nor invade the fields of orphans;
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.	11 For their redeemer is strong; he will defend their cause against you.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.	12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears 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 Withhold not chastisement from a boy; if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.	14 Beat him with the rod, and you will save him from the nether world.
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.	15 My son, if your heart be wise, my own heart also will rejoice;
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.	16 And my inmost being will exult, 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 emulate sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD always;
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.	18 For you will surely have 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 guide your heart in the right 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 Consort not with winebibbers, nor with those who eat meat to excess;
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 come to poverty, and torpor clothes a man in rags.
22 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.	22 Listen to your father who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.	23 Get the truth, and sell it not-- 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 a just man will exult with glee; he who begets a wise son will have joy in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.	25 Let your father and mother have joy; let her who bore you exult.
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 keep to my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.	27 For the harlot is a deep ditch, and the adulteress a narrow pit;
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.	28 Yes, 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 scream? Who shriek? Who have strife? Who have anxiety? Who have wounds for nothing? Who have black eyes?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?	30 Those who linger long over wine, those who engage in trials of blended wine.
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters 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 it will spread poison like a king of snakes.	32 but in the end it bites like a serpent, or like a poisonous adder.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.	33 Your eyes behold strange sights, and your heart utters disordered thoughts;
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 are like one now lying in the depths of the sea, now sprawled at the top of the 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, but it pained me not; They beat me, but I felt it not; When shall I awake to seek wine once again?"