Proverbs 23, side by side

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

¹When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:

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

²And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

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

³Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

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

⁴Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

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

⁵Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

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

⁶Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

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

⁷For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

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

⁸The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

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

⁹Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

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

¹⁰Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

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

¹¹For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

¹²Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁵My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

¹⁶My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁶Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

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

¹⁷Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

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

¹⁸For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

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

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

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

²⁰Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

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

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

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

²²Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

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

²³Buy the truth, and sell it not; also 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.

²⁴The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

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

²⁵Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

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

²⁶My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

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

²⁷For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

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

²⁸She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

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

²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

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

³⁰They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

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

³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

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

³³Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

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

³⁴Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon 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 up to search for another drink?”

³⁵They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.