Chapter 23

  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,  

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  And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.  

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  Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.  

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  Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.  

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  For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.  

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  Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,  

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  For as he hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, 'Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.  

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  Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.  

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  In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.  

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  Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,  

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  For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.  

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  Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.  

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  Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.  

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  Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.  

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  My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,  

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  And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.  

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  Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But -- in the fear of Jehovah all the day.  

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  For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.  

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  Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,  

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  Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,  

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  For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.  

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  Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.  

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  Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,  

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  The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.  

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  Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.  

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  Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.  

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  For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.  

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  She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.  

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  Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?  

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  Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.  

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  See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.  

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  Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.  

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  Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.  

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  And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.  

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  'They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'  

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