Shared Word Translation
Proverbs 23
Do Not Exhaust Yourself for Wealth
When you sit to eat
with a ruler,
consider carefully
what is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you have a great appetite.
Do not desire
the ruler’s delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
Do not exhaust yourself
to become rich;
have the understanding
to stop.
When your eyes fly toward wealth,
it is gone,
for it surely makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle toward heaven.
Do not eat the bread
of one with a stingy eye,
and do not desire
their delicacies,
for as they calculate
within themselves, so they are.
“Eat and drink,” they say to you,
but their heart is not with you.
You will vomit up
the morsel you ate
and waste
your pleasant words.
Do not speak
in the hearing of a fool,
for they will despise
the wisdom of your words.
Do not move
an ancient boundary
or enter the fields
of the fatherless,
for their Redeemer is strong;
the Redeemer
will plead their case
against you.
Apply Your Heart to Discipline
Apply your heart
to discipline
and your ears
to words of knowledge.
Do not withhold discipline
from a child;
if you strike with the rod,
the child will not die.
You may strike with the rod
and rescue their life
from Sheol.
My child,
if your heart is wise,
my own heart
will rejoice.
My innermost being will rejoice
when your lips
speak what is upright.
Do Not Envy Sinners
Do not let your heart
envy sinners,
but remain in the fear of the LORD
all day long.
Surely there is a future,
and your hope
will not be cut off.
Hear, my child, and become wise;
direct your heart
in the way.
Do not be among
those who drink too much wine,
or among those
who gorge themselves on meat,
for the drunkard and glutton
will come to poverty,
and drowsiness
will clothe a person in rags.
Buy Truth and Do Not Sell It
Listen to your father
who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother
when she is old.
Buy truth
and do not sell it—
wisdom, discipline,
and understanding.
The father of the righteous
will greatly rejoice;
the one who fathers a wise child
will be glad.
Let your father and mother be glad;
let the one who gave birth to you
rejoice.
My child, give me your heart,
and let your eyes
delight in my ways.
The Pit of Unfaithfulness
For a prostitute
is a deep pit,
and a foreign woman
a narrow well.
She lies in wait
like a robber
and increases the treacherous
among humanity.
Do Not Be Captivated by Wine
Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has reddened eyes?
Those who linger long over wine,
those who go
to search out mixed wine.
Do not look at wine
when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
In the end
it bites like a serpent
and stings
like a viper.
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart
will speak perversities.
You will be like one
lying down in the heart of the sea,
like one lying
at the top of a mast.
“They struck me,
but I was not hurt.
They beat me,
but I did not feel it.
When will I wake up?
I will seek another drink.”